Diary Of A Busker Day 32 Thursday January 27th Winchester High Street (opposite WH Smiths, Time: 1 – 2:30pm).
It really is getting cold! – the fingers get red, the hands turn purple, the breaks are becoming longer, the playing time is becoming shorter. It’s an exponential growth curve!
During a break, a very old lady is ambling towards me – she’s attempting to manoeuvre her walking frame and, at the same time, fiddling around with her purse. Will she give me some money? I’m not even playing. That will be a first. “I give money to buskers, I don’t give money to BEGGARS!”, she emphasized the word, and very loudly. “Please let me play something for you”, I said, or I WOULD have felt like a beggar. “I’m deaf.” Yes, and I’ve just seen a badge on her coat which says “PLEASE SPEAK CLEARLY, I LIP READ”. “Oh, OK”. Then, speaking very slowly and louder than normal – the way the English do with village idiots and foreigners – I say “I – WILL – PLAY – THE – THIRD – MAN – FOR – YOU.” So I start playing, and she’s nodding her head to the rhythm, which she can’t hear, surely! Maybe she’s getting the beat from watching my hand moving or maybe I’m shivering in time.
I play TTM more than usual today – there are no fast bits so it’s one of the easier ones to play when it’s cold. A man younger than me comes up and says “I can’t believe you played that – it’s my favourite song!” We exchange Third Man stories – his: about Anton Karas being a pretty wild character, always disappearing from the film set. Mine: how the director, Carol Reed, had to get him to record the music twice as the first recording, put directly onto the film tape, was destroyed in a fire.
Then, the best part of the day and one of the best moments of my life…It’s That (Third) Man Again, and there is a guy, late 20s – early 30s, sitting on the bench opposite, eating a packed lunch and tapping his foot to the tune. This pleases me. I finish playing, he gets up, comes over and says this: “You know, you made me smile just then, and I never do that – my life is so bloody awful. You made me smile, that never happens with you lot. But you entertained me. You made me smile”. He put a £2 coin in my hat. I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, I hope it gets better soon. What’s your name?” “It doesn’t matter” he said, and walked off.
Earnings: £19.30p