Diary Of A Busker Day 358 Tuesday April 30th 2013 Winchester High Street 1. Opposite Oxfam. Time: 1:35-2:35pm 2. Corner of Monsoon. Time: 2:45-3:45pm
My first day back after my cabaret gig on the humongous cruise ship Liberty Of The Seas, but it’s ten sodding days before I get paid so I need to get out and play!
Walking near Vodafone, there’s a bloke playing Requerdos De La Alhambra on a Spanish guitar and I’m relieved to report that he’s doing it the same way I have to do it. I other words, only doing TWO of the three notes in the top line. He must know I’m looking for a spot because he beckons me over and says he’s leaving here at 2:20 to meet his wife, so I can come back then. I thank him and ask his name; Mike, and – rather embarrassingly for me – he’s heard me before and given me money, so I again thank him(!) and again rather embarrassingly, I walk off and don’t leave a donation! Actually, I’ve only got £3 in change, and that’s for my bucket to start off. Anyway, Mike is from Southampton but doesn’t find busking much fun or profitable there and I can only agree. I tell him it was rubbish for me, as well; in fact, it was so bad I’m never going back!
Down at Oxfam, it’s quite windy but at least the temperature’s up from last week. Even so, I’m in the shade as usual, and it really does get a bit chilly. After Wheels, a woman says ‘You’re making me feel old, I know all the words to that!’ I say I didn’t even know it HAD words; I’m doing the instrumental version. After Ne Me Quitte Pas, an old lady says ‘It reminds me of Venice’ – one of the places the cruise ship went. However, as I’ve got a really slow brain, I only realise that when she’s crossed the road and I’m not prepared to shout for her to come back so she can tell me about it, whenever it was; fifty years ago maybe, and I’ll have to tell her about MY trip and it’ll be fifteen minutes later when I start playing again. Of course, she might have had an interesting story…
Posh BrYan, as he says, “with a Y” walks by and doesn’t stop. I notice we’re wearing the same colour clothes: off-white jacket and burgundy corduroy trousers, though I bet his gear isn’t from Primark.
I see Mike again. He stops across the road during Somewhere Over The Rainbow, then comes over and asks if it’s a Tommy Emmanuel arrangement. I say it partly is and I ask if he saw T.E. in Basingstoke. He says he missed that. I remember to tell him that this is a good spot; as good as anywhere else and that he could here if everywhere else is taken. He asks when I usually come out, so he won’t clash with me, which was very considerate, but I assure him he needn’t worry about stuff like that! Speaking of Tommy Emmanuel, I’m learning his version of Classical Gas – for another day. I’m a bit rusty and my timing’s pretty rough and I’m avoiding anything too quick-paced. I also need to sort some buzzing out on my guitar (there’s not enough!) The culprit’s the first fret. When I get home I’m going to have to file down the bit under the two low strings…
Up at Vodafone, or rather around the corner, I have a minor annoyance in the form of a fire alarm installation, being carried out by two blokes at the Laura Ashley shop across the road. Firstly, bloke number one goes up the ladder and drills in a few holes while bloke number two holds the ladder. In fact he’s still holding the ladder after bloke number one has come down and gone to get the alarm. Then bloke number one is back up, fixing on the alarm to the wall, and it keeps going off in short bursts. Initially I stop playing when it goes off as it’s truly deafening, and then start up again when it stops – a kind of musical chairs thing, but that soon gets tedious so I just carry on playing over it, which is excruciatingly painful to the ears, and not just mine. Thankfully, after ten minutes bloke number one eventually sorts it out.
I stop after an hour, because two hours is long enough after a week off, and the buzzing on the guitar is REALLY getting to me. Speaking of a week off, I was hoping the old “absence makes the heart, etc.” might prove true and be reflected in the coinage. As it is, it’s one pound UNDER the usual hourly average.
Earnings: £18.00