Diary Of A Busker Day 241 Thursday May 31st 2012 Winchester High Street 1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 1:35-3:01pm, 2. Opposite WH Smiths, Time: 3:30-5:20pm
They’re all out today; Rob – blasting at The Buttercross, a young guy a bit further down, and Ben, complete with dog and huge bowl of water, which I’m assuming is the dog’s, opposite Vodafone. So I end up way down near Maison Blanc for the first set of the day. One of my aged regulars turns up, always dapper with suit jacket, tie and flat cap. I tell him I haven’t seen him for awhile. He says he saw me last week. If that’s true, well – he’s about twice as old as me and his memory’s not half as bad as mine. I ask if he’ll let me take his photo for my album. He’s a bit reluctant – ‘I don’t know…look at me,’ he says, looking down at his trousers. I don’t know why he’s worried, he’s better presented than most of the others in my album put together. He finally succumbs to my persuasion but throws his walking stick down so it’s out of view. I know he’s told me his name but I can’t remember and have to ask him. ‘It’s Walter. Now, what are you going to play for me? I have to pick up a couple of shirts I left in the shop – they said they’d keep them for me.’ ‘I’ll play Wheels, you know that one?’ (most of the other old guys do). I start it and after a few bars he says, ‘Oh, I suppose it’ll do,’ and walks off. Ha! Next, someone else whose name I don’t know. It’s the Pickwickian chap – always smoking a pipe, always well-dressed. ‘You’re playing well today,’ he says, during Black Mountain Rag which is one of the ones I only attempt after at least an hour as it’s very fast. I’m probably playing better than I was over the last few days, when it’s been just a bit too warm. I explain, ‘It’s just the right temperature today – if it’s too warm my fingers swell up and I don’t play very well.’ ‘Well, I don’t want to be here when THAT happens!’ he says and walks off. This is someone I really need to get in my album but he’s got something of an authoritarian air about him and I’m scared that if I ask him to pose, he might be offended and make me do a hundred sit-ups. Or confiscate my guitar for a week.
Later on I set up near The Buttercross. Rob’s finished his stint…or was asked to leave. He’s a nice enough bloke but he’s bloody loud! Marie-Therese sits on the bench opposite. She now has one of those walking frames – the first time I’ve seen her with one. With some old people you can imagine what they looked like when they were young and she was clearly an attractive woman fifty years ago. Now she’s old and ill and never smiles. C’est la vie. I’m here for almost two hours and she’s sitting there the whole time – she only gets up to come over and give me some change. When she crosses the road – which isn’t wide and there’s just people, no cars – she has to plan it out. She has a good look both ways to check if there’s any fast moving people or children running or large groups who might collide with her so it takes her awhile to cross. Martin, who I know, walks by wearing a Led Zeppelin T-shirt. I go for it – not with the intention of him giving me some money – just for a bit of fun. I give him short – no longer than three seconds – blasts of Whole Lotta Love, Stairway To Heaven, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Heartbreaker and Communication Breakdown. He laughs and comes over to give me some money. I say he doesn’t have to but he insists, so I let him. I debut a new tune; Where Is Your Heart? – the theme from the 50’s film Moulin Rouge. Marie-Therese likes this…I think. She wipes imaginary tears from her eyes, so it’s either really good or really bad. I’ve had some trouble working out the chords to the middle break so I’ve made up my own bit based on what I think the chords are. Maybe it’s completely wrong – maybe that’s why she’s crying! For the last hour I play a sort of game to alleviate the occasional boredom. Whenever a girl in a short skirt walks by, Marie-Therese frowns and looks disapprovingly at her so I start doing the equivalent of a wolf whistle on my guitar – a quick ascending glissando from roughly the 3rd fret to the 12th on the high E string followed by a combination of ascent/descent (3rd fret to 10th and back down) on the B string. It’s quite authentic and makes her laugh, and a couple of other people, too – but not the ones in the short skirts. They probably think I’m an old perv.
Earnings: £32.58 + 1 CD and 1 Cheska Republika coin and two 50 euro cent coins.
