Diary Of A Busker Day 374 Thursday May 23rd 2013 Winchester High Street, opposite Vodafone. Time: 2:40-4:35pm
A woman buying a CD thinks I’ve got a west country accent, which means I have to go through the ‘I used to live in Canada but I left a long time ago to seek my fame and fortune, etc..’ part of my Hard Luck Story. Anyway, it turns out she’s been to Vancouver – ‘It’s the most beautiful city in the world, even better than Paris.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Oh yes. Of course, it’s all sort of new. Mind, I don’t like the Alaskans much. Very scary people, they’d, you know, chop your head off. Frightening, they are.’ ‘Really?…wow.’ I then give her a brief history of some of my early travels in Canada – ‘Well, I never got as far as Vancouver and the mountains. I got as far as Alberta, but that was a long time ago!’ Indeed – that was then and this is now, anyway, all this was just after Albatross which, because it secured a CD sale, is Song Of The Day! However, regarding this, I have a problem. Shortly after awarding Albatross SOTD status, my zither-style arrangement of The Third Man collects a surprising amount of coinage. In fact, so much so that I think it only fair to name it Co-Song Of The Day. But then – STOP PRESS, after The Rain Song, I sell ANOTHER CD, to a man who might want to take a lesson and learn how to play it*, so, because a CD sale instantly confers Song Of The Day status, I now have three Songs Of The Day, which is certainly a change from having no SOTD and no money.
Some posh old woman wants me to play at her party in a week or so and asks how much I charge so I go through the usual ‘it depends what day it is, where it is, how long you want me to play for.’ ‘We’re about five miles away.’ ‘Right, I’d have to get a lift there and back, or a cab. What day?’ ‘A Sunday, just an informal thing…how much would you charge?’ ‘A hundred and fifty?’ – bad mistake. I shouldn’t ask it as a question. There’s a pause, so I say ‘is that too much?’ I don’t even wait for an answer – I know it’s too much so I say ‘One hundred?’ – another mistake. I’ve ALREADY gone down fifty quid, for goodness sake! It should be a statement, not another question. She dwells on it – ‘Mmm…yes…you say you would have to get a lift?’ ‘Yeah, I don’t drive but if it’s on the weekend, that would probably be alright.’ ‘The cab is £14 to Winchester.’ ‘OK, well that’ll be £114.’ ‘Yes, do you have a card?’ ‘Yeah, here…’ and I give her a card. ‘Because I have to go – I have to see about my eye, at the hospital…and what other songs do you do? I’ve just heard THIS one’ – Albatross, played for the second time today. ‘Well, I do quite a varied selection; fifties, sixties…some other things.’ ‘And would it appeal to the young?’ By now I’m getting rather frustrated and a bit annoyed, for two reasons. 1. She’s obviously posh and has a big house in the country and could easily afford £150, and 2. I’m not playing while this is going on, thereby losing potential coinage. I repeat her question back at her – ‘Would it appeal to the young?’ ‘Yes, because there’ll be some younger people there.’ ‘Well, I get a lot of young people who give me money – small children, and older ones, who like the guitar style because they probably haven’t heard it before, not here anyway.’ ‘OK, will you be here for long?’ ‘Yeah, hours probably.’ ‘OK, well…should I let you think about it…if you’re interested?’ (Interested? I’m getting exasperated!) ‘Yeah, I mean, I am. I’m certainly available.’
She then goes off…an hour later, she’s back – ‘Hello…now, have you had second thoughts about what I said?’ ‘Second thoughts?’ ‘Yes, have you thought about it?’ ‘Well, I’m free – yeah, for that day. Can you phone me about it?’ (I don’t think she understands I don’t want to go through all the small print out here). Then she says it again – ‘Do you appeal to the young?’ I should have said ‘No I bloody don’t! Now get lost you mean, posh Winchester bitch!’ But we never say what we should.**
I was hoping to make the two hour mark, which would have been long enough, particularly as my left thumb and first finger are getting sore, but five minutes short of that the amp spluttered and died, and pretty sharpish, too. I had some more batteries but I came home instead.
Earnings: £38.33 (Including two CDs)
* I never heard from him again.
** I never heard from her again.