Diary Of A Busker Day 37 Friday February 4th Winchester High Street (opposite WH Smiths, Time: 1:20 – 5:20pm).
The Diary Of A Winchester Busker feature came out yesterday in The Hampshire Chronicle – ‘available from all good newsagents’ – and I had a few people come up and say they liked it. A lady who works for a sister paper stopped and said that it was the last excerpt that made it for her, about the young man who never smiled. “I felt terrible for him…”, she said. There were also a few who said “Great article!” as they walked by. Not all of them ‘gave’. In fact, I was hoping for a bit more weight in the old hat today, due to the article, but on counting, it worked out to about £8 an hour – which is not too bad considering I stopped playing to talk more than usual today.
Other people seen/met today…Sue, a lady with such a quiet voice, I could barely make anything out. She does massage therapy but insists on seeing her clients at night as, if she sees them in the morning, they’re useless for the rest of the day. Hmm, makes sense I suppose. Sue also does some mime, and is one of those you see standing very still, in a strange and uncomfortable position in the high street. To prove it she demonstrated by gradually slowing her head and arm movements untill she was standing in a strange and uncomfortable position while looking at me. She remained like this for about thirty seconds, which seemed a lot longer and freaked me out a bit.
Also seen, two strange teenagers in matching plaid jackets. A boy and girl, both quite short. They started dancing in a hyperactive, super-quick way next to me, then went away and came back half an hour later and did it again. I’ve seen them many times before around this area. Very odd indeed.
A funny thing. Just after I set up, Mr. Napier, the chief reporter responsible for ‘the article’* (apart from myself, of course) was walking by. He showed me what he had just bought – a dvd of The Third Man. “I’ve had that tune in my head ever since I read about it in your diary.” So I HAVE contributed something to the Anton Karas Estate, after all.
Earnings: £34.85p.
* How I’m going to refer to it from now on.