Diary Of A Busker Day 2615 Friday October 17th 2025 Winchester.
Back out with the Faith 12-string to see how she fares on a Friday afternoon…the top spot’s taken, there’s a market stall outside Starbucks at the crossroads, and the Nando’s spot is far too busy which means back up Market Street to The Square and I’ve just sat down on the stool and sorting the stuff out when I hear ‘Jesus was a man, he died on the cross…it’s in the holy scriptures, you can read it…you can find him today, a living saviour, he’s alive in heaven…’ It’s the Christian blokes come to convert us, although I’m the only one here. I must have looked frustrated because one of the others says ‘It’s OK, we won’t be long.’
A minute later, the bloke stops and I say ‘Is that it? That wasn’t long!’ No, that’s not it, there’s another three to go; the other blokes are all waiting their turn. One says to me ‘Won’t be long, we’ll give you your space in a moment.’ Bloke Two – ‘…a never dying soul…it goes right through you, into eternity…have you found salvation? Have you found security?…the day of judgement WILL come. You might say you’re ahead of it, but uh…you can be ahead of it today by putting your faith and trust in the works of Christ…who else could have done it but the son of God…’ Bloke Three was so quiet I could barely hear him but the jist of it was much the same as the other two (obviously).
Bloke Four – ‘Just want to say a few words about a man called Jesus…today we are here to present a wonderful opportunity…when you know where your soul’s going when you die…each one of us has been entrusted with a never-dying soul…put your faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s son…dear friends, just reach out and touch it and you’ll find it…we’re here today to tell you about it…many other people that have found him…to secure their salvation…find him…save them for eternity…thank you!’ ‘There we go’ says the bloke to me. ‘By the way, we love your playing.’ ‘Thank you!’ ‘It is strickly genius!’ ‘Thank you…God’s will!’ I say, because I don’t know what else to say! ”Yeah!’ he laughs. ‘Or maybe not!’ I add. ‘All the best!’ he says. ‘Thank you!’
Later on when I was well into the set, Graham came by, standing on the other side of Market Street for the remainder of the Gymnopedie and then coming up when I went into the Robinson Crusoe Theme. At the end Graham handed me a tenner, then says ‘That reminded me a bit of Yes. Remember them? Rick Wakeman?’ ‘Yeah, I do. I didn’t have any of their albums but my friend had Topographic Oceans when I was young in Canada. In fact, I’m seeing Rick Wakeman next week or the week after, in Bournemouth. Should be good fun.’ ‘I saw him when I used to live in Exeter and he played at a church in the village he lived in, Warbury. Had a studio built in his house.’ ‘They all do, don’t they?!’
The arsehole from the shop comes out and walks off towards The Buttercross. This might be the first time he’s heard the 12-string. Hope he likes it! In actual fact, I couldn’t give a fuck. I do an hour and a half and collect just under £25 and I’m happy with that. A short break is in order; it’s necessary as I’m dying for a slash (the hormone treatment’s playing up today) so I lock the beast up (that’s the bike) near the flower seller and use the public loos. I don’t even take the equipment case with me, I leave it on the bike but keep the guitar on my back.
Back up the road and the top spot’s now free. I make a quick £15. Two women, one young, one older and both in a very jolly mood walk by, look back at me, laugh, then come back. The older one says ‘She’s my daughter, it’s her birthday! She’s 22…can you play a birthday song?’ ‘Course I can, how about this one?’ I say as I go into, you guessed it, Happy Birthday. They love it. My reward? A tenner and a fiver, which by my expert reckoning, makes £15. I wish it was always that easy to make £15. As they totter up towards Jewry Street they get the chorus of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, free of charge. They love it; all drunk women do!
I do well; apart from the birthday £15, I shift two £10 CDs and enough coinage falls in the case to make the final amount around £50, which is brilliant for another hour and a half. That makes three hours, enough! Not quite. Su, who videos me, comes by so I do Tales Of The Unexpected for her and at the end she says she thinks it sounds good on the 12-string, which is good enough for me. A funny thing; I’m colour-coordinated with the guitar today. The guitar’s black with small white fret marker dots on the fretboard’s upper edge and I’m in a black shirt with white spots. I was well into playing the 12-string today and it served me well but the left arm ain’t half giving me some jip. My young Big Issue friend thinks it might be arthritis, which can come on at the change in the weather.
P.S. Speak of the devil(!) Just after typing this out, I had a £5 Paypal donation (of which I received £4.55) come in, from Linus Guest, with this message – Thanks for waiting for us to say a few words about the Lord Jesus today. Much appreciated. (It must have been Linus who took a photo of my Paypal link in my case, as they were leaving The Square!)