Day 2676
Thursday April 16th 2026
Winchester
I sometimes get paranoid about taking that expensive Faith 12-string on my back on the bike because I reckon it’s only a matter of time before I go arse over tit and injure (or kill) both of us. I mean, I drive pretty safely but you never know what some idiot in a car is going to do. So I got the hard and very heavy Faith case down from the attic, put all the other stuff in a four-wheel case – the one I use for my hols, and set off down the road. I have to wear gloves because it’s hard going on the hand…and gets heavier and heavier as the journey progresses. The good thing is, around the middle of the Arbor, it’s all downhill so the four-wheel case comes into it’s own. I also learned pretty quickly to avoid the small paving stones and stick to the bigger ones.
In town, the keyboard bloke is in place near the top spot so I trudge on down the high street…right down to Nando’s. Another thing – after a few songs, I realised I didn’t need the case to prop up the hard case because the top stays up on its own so I did something crafty – I moved the case to my right side and plopped the amp on it. Presto, instant amp stand! So now it’s nearer my head and I can hear it a bit more.
Anyway, first time out since the 3rd (six day holiday in Palma/Valldemossa and bad weather since my return) so I was expecting to have been missed and consequently I was expecting some decent coinage. Not a bit of it. The best thing was a fiver for Layla but apart from that, not a lot. I had a couple of compliments – ‘Nice sound on the twelve-string” said a shade-wearing man after California Girls, and ‘Mr. Bowie would have been very happy to hear that’ after a man stopped with his two sons to listen to Life On Mars? Well, that’s very nice but I would have been happy to have been given a coin for that, Mr. Man.
I did debut a new song – As Tears Go By, in memory of Marianne Faithful who died over a year ago! Just a simple arrangement which I haven’t spent a lot of time on but it sounds quite authentic on the old 12-string. I think Jimmy Page played the 12-string acoustic on the record.
A solid two hours with no chatting yielded a mere £15.20. I repeated only two songs – Tales Of The Unexpected and Here Comes The Sun and did a couple I haven’t done for awhile – I Dreamt I Dwelled In Marble Halls and Telstar. Despite having to play it with my thumbpick because I didn’t have a pick (plectrum) with me, Bond sounded good, especially the orchestral bit before the second outing of the riff.
The way home was a bit of an effort, seeing as it’s mostly uphill…and I’d just given the hands a workout and now had to carry the heavy case back. What was spurring me on was the prospect of my lunch – last nights’ left-overs. I kept thinking ‘Seven minutes…five minutes…three minutes…not long now…mmm, yum yum!’