Diary Of A Busker Day 2561 Friday 13th June 2025 Winchester.
A full house – almost; there’s a spot at the intersection in front of the old Debenhams. It’s full of market stalls, including the shouting fruit and veg bloke next to Sainsbury’s but for some reason he’s silent. I hang about for a couple of minutes and he hasn’t shouted so I set up. There are loads of people about but not alot of generosity, coinage-wise. I have a chat with an older woman…
Her – ‘Are you from this country?’
‘Yeah but I grew up somewhere else.’
‘Where was that, Ireland?’
‘No, Canada.’
‘Really? Whereabout in Canada?’
‘London, in Ontario.’
‘Oh.’
‘It’s a city sort of in between Detroit and Toronto.
‘And what brings you here?’
‘Well, I came over in 1983 to seek my fame and fortune. I like your hat.’
‘Oh, thank you.’
‘I’d quite like a hat but I don’t think the shape of my head suits one. That’s what I’m told anyway.’
‘Oh, I think it does…yes, you could wear a hat.’
‘Really, like a trilby or something like that?’
‘What’s that?’
‘A trilby?’
‘Yes.’
‘Um, sort of an old-fashioned thing. It’s hard to describe. Or maybe a panama – I always quite liked a panama.’
‘Oh yes, I think so.’
‘Maybe you should come shopping with me for a hat. There’s a bloke who sells panamas – usually up the road but I don’t think he’s here today…’
After an hour and twenty minutes I’ve accumulated a mere £7, which isn’t good enough so I pack up and set up in The Square…forty minutes later I’ve got another £1.50 so I decide to pack up and go home. I’m on the bike and just coming into the high street and thinking “this just isn’t good enough. I mean £8.50 for two hours playing, come on”. I look back towards The Buttercross, see there’s no one there and think “fuck it, I’m setting up”. I did an hour and picked up £52, including a £20 note from a very generous young chap. So there you go, I’d more or less given up but you just never can tell.