Diary Of A Busker Day 225 Wednesday April 18th 2012 Winchester High Street Opposite O2. Time: 2:53-4:13pm
A windy day, with rain which keeps stopping/starting, starting/stopping… There are no other buskers out today (I don’t blame them) so I can go anywhere I want and as I want to keep all my stuff as dry as I can, I head for the covered stretch, but just before I do, I see Alan, the friendly street cleaner, formerly working for Hampshire Council, now for the McDonald’s Corporation – his cart says “I’m lovin’ it!” in big letters, which really amuses me. I need to get a photo of Alan for my album and he’s happy to let me take one. During the “shoot”, Alan dispenses his thoughts/philosophies on life – ‘There’s no point thinking about far ahead, I just think about today…I think I’d like to die from lack of breath! I’ve seen so many other people I know go – heart attack, just like that…in my house there’s only one boss, only one person who wears the trousers – my wife! My philosophy is preservation not confrontation!’ I step back a few feet and get a photo of Alan holding my guitar case but when I see it back, I can’t see his face too well, which is no good, as his face, with all the lines, is very individual and you can only get a true picture of his character by REALLY seeing his face, so I get another one, close up, which he’s happy with.
I get another regular’s photo – Jeremy, who works at the hospital, something to do with the radio, I think. I took him before but the picture vanished. Jeremy’s a bit harder to please than Alan – he’s not too happy when he sees the photo – ‘Oh dear, I see I’ve grown a pair of breasts! Can you do another one? Perhaps over here…’ – he goes just under the covered bit, where it’s darker.
The money’s a bit under the hourly average, which was what I was expecting, with the rain…so I was relieved (and very lucky) to sell one of my CDs of my original music, for £7, to a 58 year old, rather large American man, who’d been taking pictures of me from the bench opposite. I finish with, somewhat confusingly – Here Comes The Sun, followed by (far less confusingly) The Rain Song. As I’m walking up the street, on my way home, a local and occasionally friendly drongo passes me – ‘This rain doesn’t do us any favours, does it?’ he says.
Earnings: £17.79 (Including the CD sale)
