Diary Of A Busker Day 146 Wednesday August 24th Winchester High Street (1. opposite Card Factory, Time: 2:35-4:35pm, 2. opposite Vodafone, Time: 5:05-6:20pm).
For some time I’ve wanted to “itemise” my donators through the course of an average day. So for this entry, I have done just that – a list in chronological order detailing the donor’s sex, followed by the approximate age and anything noteworthy recorded afterwards. Amounts of money has not been recorded, apart from where stated.
1st session.
Man – 40
Man – 70
Girl – 5 (x2 – came back 10 minutes later)
…at 2:53pm I was requested by a shop girl from Zoo Jewellery – next to card Factory – to “turn down a bit – we can’t hear on the phone.” This is the first time anyone has asked me to do this.
Man with daughter – 4
Woman – 47
Woman – 60
…Anthony, my 72 year old regular drops by. I ask about his iminent encounter with his 3 Russian beauties – his ongoing (internet) search for a 2nd wife. He tells me about a scam. One girl, who he’d arranged to fly over from Moscow (alot of the girls ask for money to travel to Moscow, as they sometimes live thousands of kilometres away – Russia being so vast), phoned and said she’d had an accident on the way to the airport and could he send over £3,000 to pay for the operation. Anthony says alot of it’s run by the Russian Mafia – much worse than the Italian Mafia. If any of these young girls ask him to send money over, he tells them “No, I’d have to be an idiot to send money – do you want to be married to an idiot?”
Two women – 55
Man – 65
Man – 30
Woman – 65
Seven children – between 3 and 10 (a penny each)
Woman – 75 (“Nice noises”)
Woman – 45
Two men – 65 “That’s brilliant!” – Albatross)
Lady – 60
Man – 60
Man – 35
Boy – 10, Girl – 5 (x2 – came back 10 minutes later)
Man – 20 (“Nice guitar”)
Woman – 55
Woman – 20
Man – 64 (Colin, a regular whose 64th I played at recently)
…half an hour break…
2nd Session
Woman – 55
Boy – 8, Girl – 6
…two young “Drongos” turn up. One came up to me the other day in a blood splattered white T-shirt and asked me for £2. I refused him. “Hey, do you remember me?” he comes up close to my face. “Yeah” I say. I’ve seen him loads of times – he sometimes used to help out Bertie at his flower stall. “I just got out of the BANGER.” His mate buts in, “Leave the guy alone, he’s tryin’ to play his guitar!”, then to me, “He’s had a few drinks, sorry.” He drags his mate off, who reappears a few minutes later to ask if I can teach him a few guitar chords. I ask if he has a guitar. “No, I’ll get one…soon.” “Yeah, OK, I’ll teach you some chords.” It won’t happen.
Woman – 40
Man – 20
Man (American) – 45
Two girls – 2 or 3
Two boys – 2 and 4
Woman – 35
Couple – early 20s
Earnings: £32.38p.
Man – 40
Man – 70
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