Diary Of A Busker Day 2597 Thursday September 11th 2025 Winchester.
No one at The Buttercross but I fancied going down the road to the Nando’s spot…but once there I decided it would be better not to compete with the fruit and veg bloke and his constant shouts of ‘a line o’ fruit for a pand (pound)!’ So back up the road to the top spot. A young bloke who’s clearly had a few sherbets chucks in a 50p and utters something incoherent, then ‘you got the whammy goin’…can I have a go?’ There can only be one response – ‘Sorry, no. Sorry.’ He teeters about for a few seconds before his mate, who’s at the end of The Pentice, beckons him to join him, which he does (thank fuck) but not before he’s chucked in another 50p, so at least he took the refusal well. I don’t mind occasionally letting someone have a short play but not an inebriate, and especially not on a brand new-ish shiny guitar.
Stop the press! I sold a book, and a volume 2 at that (because most want the first volume). At first I was let down once again by technology; my Paypal link wouldn’t work, due to loads of signals coming in from different phone companies and messing things up, according to my customer. In the end, I said I’d let her have the book now and she could pay me when she got home, where her phone would work – ‘I don’t mind doing that. You look like an honest person.’ So thank you Marie Le’Warne for keeping your word.
And not only a book, but I also had a CD sale, to a chap who said a wonderful thing – ‘You bring colour to the high street (and not a bit provided by my new guitar in shiny eye-catching Fiesta Red)…and we’ve got to keep you buskers going, this is your bread and butter.’
During that last 10 minutes I was tempted by the ‘Half price!’ repeated announcement from the young bloke outside the pasty shop down the road, but resisted though I reckon I’ll give in next time I hear it!
The session yielded £26.50 – not bad for an hour and 20 minutes, and the first where it got quite cold and windy near the end. Summer’s definitely over.