Diary of a Busker

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 704 Tuesday March 10th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2-4pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 4:40-5:20pm). A slow start: FOUR songs before any coinage (two donations for Here Comes The Sun), but a perfectly acceptable temperature: 12 degrees. A mildly offensive incident occurs as a bunch of foreign students march by. A boy leans in… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 703 Saturday March 7th 2015 Hythe (In front of Waitrose, Time: 11:30-1:52pm). Back to Hythe, first time since the winter recess, and I wonder if the kind inhabitants have missed me… A sunny day but the wind was pretty rough on the bike ride and really REALLY rough on the ferry. I got some more… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 702 Friday March 6th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 2:45-3:20pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 3:28-4:35pm, 3. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 5:04-5:35pm). I start off at somewhere I haven’t been since last year, and they must have missed me. One of the older blokes in G & H waves to me from inside the… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 701 Wednesday March 4th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:15-5:15pm). I was thinking of setting up near The Butter Cross but when I got there, 1. It was too windy, and 2. Some workmen had a radio on and I thought ‘If I start up, I’m just going to piss them off’, so I didn’t… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 700 Tuesday March 3rd 2015 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:45-5:15pm). The 700th Day. How many more of these before I chuck in the towel?! Another sunny but cold day: 8 degrees. I cycled around a bit before deciding Oxfam was the least windy spot. But before I decided, Otto passed me in The Square and… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 699 Sunday March 1st 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 1:37-2:58pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:35-4:08pm). The first donation was from an Indian bloke who told me he was a guitarist and used to play all over the world, playing Santana and other stuff like that, until he had a heart attack and couldn’t play… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 698 Saturday February 28th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:42-5:14pm). I had an incredible stroke of luck in that I sold a CD before I even started. It was to a man who’s already got the first one, and he’d come up to me a few weeks ago just after I’d got the new one… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 697 Friday February 27th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:56-4:26pm, 2. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 4:50-5:50pm). Temperature: 6 degrees and windy. I spend a few minutes cycling around to find the least windy spot…and end up down the arse-end. Song Of The Day: 3rd one in – Here Comes The Sun, as it got five… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 696 Wednesday February 25th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Vodafone, Time: 3:13-5:25pm). A mild day, for once. In fact, compared to the last few weeks, it’s positively tropical! And it put me in an almost good mood: a rare occurrence indeed. The other thing that put me in a good mood was a man buying both CDs.… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 695 Tuesday February 24th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:55-4:07pm, 2. Opposite The Body Shop, Time: 4:50-5:42pm). A sunny but cold (6 degrees) and windy day. I cycled around to all the areas and decided Vodafone was the least windy. That little lady in the motorised wheelchair, Maureen, who’s name I remembered just in… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 694 Saturday February 21st 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:36-3:25pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:32-4:25pm, 3. Opposite The Body Shop, Time: 4:55-5:45pm). Mr. Jackson and his rockabilly trio, of which he is one, are rockabillying at The Butter Cross, just a tad too loudly, I thought. Any louder and I wouldn’t have been able… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 693 Friday February 20th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:02-3:32pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 4:05-5:38pm). I’m standing with the bike outside Monsoon, looking about, and suddenly there she is – Delia – practically in front of me. Of course, she insists on giving me a pound, even though I’m not actually playing. She’s only… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 692 Wednesday February 18th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Bellis, Time: 2:18-4:01pm). At the risk of sounding presumptive so early in the set, I name Here Comes The Sun as Song Of The Day as it earned no less than SEVEN donations…probably not all pound coins, though. There are some birds busy above, chucking stuff down at… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 691 Tuesday February 17th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:46-4:47pm). I’d only been playing a few minutes when someone I haven’t seen in ages, Kai, walks by with his violin case and one of those tablet things that take photos, and he took one of me. He didn’t stop. I should have asked if he… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 689 Wednesday February 11th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Bellis, Time: 3:10-4:52pm). Temperature: 6 degrees, cold but no wind. A man about 65 donates in the first song and says ‘Sorry it’s not much’. Not much but whatever it was, it was more than anything I got for the next three songs, which was zero. It got… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 688 Sunday February 8th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:02-3:07pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 3:15-4:25pm). A cold day – of course, but no wind – good. Sam’s come up again, from Brighton. He’s set up camp at his usual Butter Cross spot. As I’m walking by, he tells me he’ll be done in 40… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 687 Saturday January 31st 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:07-4:07pm, 2. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 4:31-5:11pm). Young Sam’s here – like he said he would be – at his usual residence: The Butter Cross…I had a look at the Pavilion spot around the corner, but there was no one sitting outside any of the restaurants.… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 686 Friday January 30th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Bellis, Time: 3:50-5:30pm). If it wasn’t for the non-appearance of an 18 year old Peter Symonds student – one Emma Cuifie, or Ciufie, or something like that – for a lesson (she never even sent a message, and I’m down by £15…and a capo I leant her), I… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 685 Tuesday January 27th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 12:44-1:54pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 2:05-2:35pm). Temperature: 7 degrees. A really slow start, the first donation being fifteen minutes in, from scouser Chris, whose name, as usual, I couldn’t remember at the time. I knew it wasn’t what I’d been calling for ages, though: Mick.… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 684 Saturday January 24th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 3:17-3:37pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:43-5:15pm). The amplified rockabilly trio – I forgot the name – were set up at The Butter Cross, and although I couldn’t really hear them at Pavilion on the other side of the alleyway, I carried on down to Vodafone.… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 683 Thursday January 22nd 2015 Winchester (Opposite Jigsaw, Market Street, Time: 2:12-3:04pm). First time out for over a week, as it’s been so cold. It’s a good job I got the money for that cruise or I don’t know what I would have done. I stopped at the crossroads, trying to work out what to… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 682 Sunday January 11th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite The Body Shop, Time: 1:17-2:38pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:05-4:35pm). After an hour and 10 minutes at the seldom used Body Shop spot, I took a toilet break and compared the two hand driers…and the Steibel Eltron won “hands down” over the Warner Herald one, for the… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 681 Saturday January 10th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:10-3:40pm, 2. Opposite Jigsaw, Market Street, Time: 3:55-5:15pm). A rather depressed state of mind today, with a light headache…which is what happens when you have a few rum and cokes followed with half bottle of red. I need to lay off the sauce, especially the… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 680 Tuesday January 6th 2015 Winchester (Opposite Bellis, Time: 2:10-3:30pm). I only came out as I was a bit depressed in the house. I’m not sure why although it might partly be because tonight’s the last lesson I give to Tom and Owen, down the road. I’ve been seeing them for 2 1/2 years, but… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 679 Friday January 2nd 2015 Winchester (Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:02-4:05pm). 10 degrees says the weather website – warm! First busk of the year, second day of the year. It started a bit slow, then I got a few donations for the 1st. Gnossienne, and it earned a CD sale: Song Of The Day! The CD… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 678 Wednesday December 31st 2014 (Opposite Bellis, Time: 2:46-4:50pm). At 8 degrees, the temperature’s up a couple of degrees since three days ago, so I thought I’d venture out…maybe people are more generous on New Year’s Eve…I don’t know. I checked the diary and I was out last year and got £26 in an hour… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 677 Sunday December 28th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:40-4:18pm). I don’t know why I went out. I mean, I know it was cold: 5 degrees by the website…I don’t know. I hadn’t even thawed out from a trip into town, and I went out again less than an hour after I got in. I… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 676 Wednesday December 24th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:30-4:30pm). I was going to come in yesterday, which was a few crucial degrees warmer than today, but it was drizzling pretty much all day so I didn’t bother. Anyway, I haven’t been in for over two weeks…I wonder how rusty I’ll be…for rusty I will… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 674 Saturday December 6th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 1:40-3:10pm, 2. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 3:44-4:45pm). In the morning I went to the bank to see if they’d reinstated my money. Of course they hadn’t, so the lady – Sue Melligran(?) – who’s been dealing with me said she’d sort out some money… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 673 Friday December 5th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Bellis, Time: 1:57-4:17pm). I don’t know…sometimes I wonder what’s going to happen next. I came into town in the morning and found all my money had been taken out of the account and spent at an Argos shop. £308, although I only had £238 in it. Maybe they… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 672 Saturday November 29th 2014 Hythe (1. Opposite Waterside Furnishing shop, Time: 10:40-11:04am, 2. In front of barbershop, Time: 11:15-1:05, 1:55-3:40pm). So here it is at last. The day of the famous Hythe Mistletoe Fayre. I don’t know what it is, but like yesterday, I get to Town Quay just as the ferry’s pulling away.… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 671 Friday November 28th 2014 Hythe (Opposite Harvey’s Sandwich Bar/In front of Waitrose) The first of two days in Hythe, at the request of Helen from the council and Chris Bradford, who says I’ll get £40 for expenses – almost twice as much as I need. I did protest but not too loudly. It’s also… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 670 Saturday November 15th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 1:36-1:39pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 1:58-3pm, 3. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 3:05-3:44pm). I’m off to Istanbul tomorrow and back via Rome next Saturday, so this is it for a week. Also, I need to take whatever I make today to the bank as I need to… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 669 Friday November 14th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 1:29-3:49pm). I’d come in in the morning and Young Sam was talking to Rob at The Butter Cross, so I thought ‘They’ll both be here for a few hours’, and sure enough Sam was at Vodafone when I came in later. An old lady contributed 50p… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 668 Wednesday November 12th 2014 Winchester (Opposite The Body Shop, Time: 2:51-4:23pm). Rain, and the young, light-haired bloke was in the shelter of The Pentice, right near The Butter Cross, so I did the same thing but down at the other end of it, although it was rather too close to Timpsons, I fear…but, sod… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 667 Sunday November 9th 2014 Hythe (Opposite Harvey’s Sandwich Bar/In front of Waitrose, Time: 12:51-3:15pm). Last week in Hythe was a disaster, of course, then there was rain all day on Saturday but Sunday it was supposed to be sunny all day, according to the Weather In Hythe website…well it was sunny on the way… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 666 Friday November 7th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 1:47-2:40pm, 3:07-4:26pm). The temperature: 12 degrees – not too bad, although there’s a bit of wind which doesn’t help matters much. A couple donate, she correctly identifying Windy & Warm as a Chet arrangement…actually Doc Watson…or maybe they’re the same. He asks if I know Happy… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 665 Wednesday November 5th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:42-4:03pm). Back to the scene of the crime, literally. The temperature: 8 degrees, in other words, 2 degrees above the limit of which, below, it is impossible to play. Namely 6 degrees! It’s still cold, though, but at least there’s no wind. I sell a CD,… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 664 Sunday November 2nd 2014 Winchester (Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:43-4:36pm). A wet day…and a noisy one. I happen to set up opposite a stall set up by the Winchester Round Table people. Four blokes with very loud voices. (I seemed to have arrived during a break in the shouting). They were selling tickets for a… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 663 Saturday November 1st 2014 Hythe (Opposite Harvey’s Sandwich Bar/In front of Waitrose, Time: 4:25-5:55pm). I’m not having a very good week. I had just chained up the bike and was at the ticket machine at Town Quay, getting the coins from my pocket, when I thought ‘There’s something not right’. And what was not… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 662 Friday October 31st 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 1:20-3:32pm, 2. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 3:40-4:30pm). Ten minutes after I started (on a warm day!), that bloody European van pulled up in front of me again. I couldn’t be bothered to pack up so I stayed there…and one song later – Albatross –… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 661 Thursday October 30th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:25-2:35pm). I’d only done three songs and was halfway through the fourth – Here Comes The Sun, before I was rudely interrupted in the highest degree by the biggest offender I’ve had the displeasure to come across in my, now, 4 + years out here. This… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 660 Tuesday October 28th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:15-3:35pm, 2. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 4:08-5:15pm). At The Butter Cross it’s the guy from New Zealand, and Wimoweh, and he does a very funny – although I’m not sure it’s meant to be – high falsetto. In fact, I’ve never heard a man get that… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 659 Monday October 27th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:45-4:41pm). When, at 9 o’clock, I did the weekly trip to the bank with the coinage, that girl singer had her stuff set up at The Butter Cross. I don’t know where she was but she’d clearly put a claim on the spot. Five hours later,… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 658 Sunday October 26th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:30-4:40pm). A landmark day: the 4th anniversary of the start of all this busking business…and of this diary, of course. Oh yes, I remember it well: Southampton in the cold, and I was so embarrassed to set up, I delayed it as long as I could.… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 657 Saturday October 25th 2014 Hythe (Opposite Harvey’s Sandwich Bar/In front of Waitrose, Time: 1:01-3:21pm) I thought I’d try a bit later this time and see how it went. I got the train at 12 o’clock and got to the ferry just in time, and a different ferry, too. A bigger one than Great Expectations… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 656 Friday October 24th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:05-2:35pm, 2. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:40-4:50pm). Another day of very reasonable temperature and no wind…and a really crap first session down at Oxfam: £2.20p for half an hour’s playing…and a woman offered me a plastic bottle of Fanta. She didn’t say anything, she just held… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 655 Thursday October 23rd 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 1:55-3:01pm). Once again, no wind and a temperature of a perfectly acceptable nature. Quite amazing for this time of year. There wasn’t much else to write home about, though…a few old people at one of the tables across the way were tapping their feet along to… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 654 Wednesday October 22nd 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:17-4:25pm). The weather was alot better than yesterday. No rain at all and about 60 degrees – perfect playing temperature, in fact. Actually, 65 would have been perfect, but 60 is fine! Song Of The Day – the 1st. Gnossienne, as it secured a £5… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 653 Tuesday October 21st 2014 Winchester (Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:13-2:50pm). And once again, I don’t know why I bother…after 4 songs, a Chinese girl fiddles with her purse and looks in the bucket. All that’s there is my camera in its case, to give the bucket some weight or it would blow away – a… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 652 Monday October 20th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 12:58-1:48pm). That girl singer/songwriter – she’s very nice although a bit boring – was at The Butter Cross, and that big brown UPS van was around the corner at Pavilion, so I was banished down to the arse-end. During albatross, an old guy makes conversation –… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 651 Saturday October 18th 2014 Hythe (Opposite Harvey’s Sandwich Bar, Time: 12:26-2:47pm). I left a lot later than usual, waiting for the rain to stop, and as a consequence the train to Southampton was pretty full up, and with a few drunken football supporters, to boot. I was standing near the doors and a football… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 650 Friday October 17th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:54-4:01pm, 2. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 4:15-5:35pm). I’d been practising Sukiyaki so much, I decided to debut it: 3rd song in, so I must have been pretty confident. Of course, I know I can always rely on the bloody buses to cover up any bum notes,… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 649 Wednesday October 15th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Bellis/O2, Time: 4:25-5:25pm). I was brave enough to venture out while the rain – or drizzle rather – took a break. Fortunately, the undercover Pentice/Butter Cross place, which I hadn’t been for awhile, was free. The first half-hour was OK, weather-wise: temperature – a bit chilly, but not… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 648 Tuesday October 14th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:42-3:48pm). It’s…Graduation Day! There’s loads of people…well, mainly young ones of the female sort, walking about with those hats that look like mortar boards. It’s a slow start, as it often is: a full FIVE songs before the first donation, from a man in a light-coloured… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 647 Saturday October 11th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:15-4:15pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 4:32-5:32pm). When I got to Pavilion, my old mate Rick Tarrant was sitting outside the restaurant next door with a cup of coffee. I declined his invitation to join him as I wanted to start up. As he had his… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 646 Friday October 10th 2014 Hythe (Opposite Harvey’s Sandwich Bar/in front of Waitrose, Time: 10:55-1:10pm). 1st time with the bike, and the ride from the train station to Town Quay was pretty effortless – mainly along the cycle track. At the quay, I locked it up alongside a load of other bikes, then went in… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 645 Wednesday October 8th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 11:16-12:40pm, 2. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 1:16-1:40pm, 3. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:14-2:55pm). I got down here early, as it was the time when the lady with the quadriplegic and the others said they’d be here… That bloke – Nick, who I wrote about years ago, popped… Read more →

TweetDiary of A Busker Day 644 Tuesday October 7th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 12:53-2:56pm). I’d just started setting up when an offender (thankfully, the day’s only one) turns up. It’s that old bugger who said maybe I was playing the wrong stuff, when I told him I didn’t make any money on the underground. He never contributes, either…which is… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 643 Sunday October 5th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:08-4:01pm). Got off to a good start: Albatross, which got a contribution from a couple a bit older than me…and that’s not all. As they were walking off, they stopped, listened some more, then came back and BOUGHT A CD!!! I was so HAPPY!, especially after… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 642 Saturday October 4th 2014 (1. Opposite Bellis/O2, Time: 3:45-4:14pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 4:20-5:40pm). I was going to go to Hythe in the morning, but it was raining and it didn’t stop for hours. I’d even bought the train ticket so I had to get a refund. Anyway, by 3 o’clock it had cleared… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 641 Friday October 3rd 2014 Winchester (Opposite Oxfam, Time: 2:25-4:37pm). First time in since my near-breakdown on Monday and I definitely needed the few days off. The weather’s still fine: temperature warm, but it’s changing over the weekend, apparently. I was mildly offended when, after 45 minutes, a family of three: man, woman, teenage daughter… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 640 Monday September 29th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 3:20-3:40pm, 2. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 3:45-4:02pm, 3. Opposite Bellis, Time: 5:45-6:20pm). I think this was the day I decided I’d finally had enough – of Winchester, anyway. I thought I’d get a short one in before the guitar lesson at 4:15. The middle… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 639 Sunday September 28th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 2:35-3:05pm, 3:09-3:13pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:20-4:45pm). Five minutes into the set, in the middle of Blowin’ In The Wind (appropriate today), I could hear something in the background. All was revealed soon enough: those bloody bells from the cathedral. I forgot it… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 607 Sunday August 10th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Jigsaw, Market Street, Time: 2:35-4:11pm, 2. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 4:32-5:34pm). After Wonderful Land, I got a £5 note from an old lady in a wheelchair. She was being pushed by two men. Maybe they were taking turns. Anyway, she made them stop in the High Street, about… Read more →

TweetDiary Of A Busker Day 588 Thursday July 10th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:15-2:49pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:02-3:42pm, 3. Opposite Bellis, Time: 5:52-6:07pm, 4. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 6:15-6:55pm). Unbelievable – the door of Pavilion stayed wide open for 26 minutes! – until California Girls, when The Bitch had obviously had enough. And then, as if in cahoots,… Read more →