Diary Of A Busker Day 14 Wednesday December 22nd Winchester High Street (down from WH Smiths, opposite WH Smiths) Time:11:30 – 12:30, 2:20 – 3:50pm.
A ‘double-header’ – my first! I got to town earlier, as I wanted to finish earlier but on arriving, there were two young guys strumming Slades’ “Here it is Merry Christmas” or whatever it’s called, opposite WH Smiths. The, by now, omnipresent Salvation Army players – a quartet this time – are near the Christmas market and Frank the accordion player is just setting up, too. And then there’s all the charity and Big Issue people. Frank’s a good guy, so I talked with him for a bit – about the cold, of course.
Played for an hour and made £5.42p. Packed up and went to a coffee bar to warm up for an hour. I’ve noticed that toes take about an hour to warm up – much longer than the fingers – meaning the toes take longer to WARM up, not that the toes are actually longer, length-wise, than the fingers. Something else I’ve discovered – wearing three pairs of socks is no warmer than wearing two pairs.
Returned for the second session opposite Smiths and took just under £10 for 1 1/2 hours. Very cold. No notable approaches/conversations apart from a middle aged man who recognised The Third Man Theme, and noticing my red/frozen hands said, “You need a young lady to warm those up for you.” I looked at his wife as if to say, jokingly, of course, “What about you?” “Oh, I’m not young!” she said.
Later on, I chatted to Rustin – a charity worker, who had exactly the same make and model of hearing aid as I have. It’s a small world, we both agreed.
Earnings: £14.63p