Diary Of A Busker – Day 3 Thursday October 28th Southampton City Centre Pitch E Time: 11:45 – 3:10pm
A long day – almost 3 hours of continuous playing. Had a few compliments – they’re almost always from middle-to-old aged men! Occassionally, I’ll be aware of some much younger blokes watching for a few minutes, at a safe distance away.
Met a lady from Dusseldorf out with her 1 year old grandson who was clutching his Postman Pat and Mrs. Goggins figures. I improvised the P. Pat melody on my guitar for him. The lady, Marika, is fifty-eight and chatted with me for awhile. She had sat next to Rick Parfitt of ‘the Quo’ recently on a flight. Must have been 1st class, obviously. She has been living in England for a long time and her daughter wants her to stay but she’s fed up with the racism -“People use the ‘N’ word, you know, call me a Nazi”. She says she encounters this “at all levels – poor people, rich people, in shops, everywhere.” “Here in Southampton, you mean?” “Yes, here.” I was amazed and quite shocked. (Apart from the fact that she wasn’t even born when the war ended). I told her that, as a musician, I had been treated with the greatest hospitality in other countries, and in Germany in particular, but somehow never that well here in England. In fact quite a number of times, I’ve arrived at a gig, having travelled hours and not even been offered a cup of tea. And then there’s the dreaded ‘dressing room situation’ – invariably it’s the men’s toilet. If you’re lucky, you might get the disabled toilet – at least they’re usually pretty clean but more often than not it’s the plain filthy gents – for four people to get changed in, with piss all over the floor.
Marika asked me about my accent and where I was from. When I told her I lived in Canada she said her uncle, who served in Rommels’ Afrika Korps, was captured by the British and taken to Canada. He was only 17. She said he was treated very well. I told her I emigrated 27 years ago, to seek my fame and fortune, as it were. “And now you are here, begging.”
Earnings: £18.01p
Expenses: £5.50p – train fare.