Diary Of A Busker Day 507

Diary Of A Busker Day 507 Saturday February 15th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavillion, Time: 1:43-2:14pm, 2. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:45-4:15pm, 3. Opposite Bellis, Time: 5:17-5:47pm).

There’s a Drongo camped out near the Bellis spot, and another one down at Vodafone, so I set up in front of the craft shop…Song Of The Day: the first song – Here Comes The Sun. At the end of it, I have a look in the bucket: four pound coins and that’s not all – oh no. There’s also a stick of gum in a silver foil wrapper. Cheers. The only other thing of note, before the rain forced me to stop was a lady who came up mid-song and said ‘Happiness’ – just the one word. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt and taking it as a compliment as to the effect of my playing on her, rather than a request for the 60s hit by a certain Mr. Dodd….or was it ‘A Penis’?!

I did a quick count-up – I knew I’d done alright – but I was quite overwhelmed by the final tally: about £12 – incredible for half an hour. As I was about to leave, a couple who were sitting outside La Monde, came over to contribute and say how much they enjoyed listening over their coffee, for which I thanked them most profusely.

Break time at Waterstones, and more from Sister Edith Appleton’s war diary. From September 12th, 1916…

The tales the men from the Somme tell are terrible – how some poor fellows go mad and some die from fright or shock – and all swear terribly. One very quiet man told me swearing was not his habit, or any joy to him, but he swore as much as any man when shells were coming over. ‘It helps one to bear it quite wonderfully’, he said.

2nd set – The Drongo’s still near The Butter Cross, but the one at the middle spot’s gone. Early on, one of the street cleaners – the one who wears the top hat – stops by. We don’t usually speak, apart from a ‘hello’ or ‘alright?’ But this time he’s got a story – ‘I’ve just been threatened with the sack’, he says. I say ‘Really? – why?’ ‘Well, because I’m wearing jeans’. (They must be under his HVT – high visibility trousers, and he’s wearing a matching HVJ(acket). There’s no need for all this, is there? – he’s blinding!)

So I say ‘Jeans?’ He says ‘Yeah, the Polish manager (of McDonalds, who employ him and the old guy, Alan) says I’m wearing jeans and then the other manager, Russian, said the same. Then the other one, who’s Hungarian, asked to see my passport and National Insurance number TO PROVE I WASN’T AN ALIEN!’ ‘What? – you’re joking!’, I said. No, he wasn’t, he said, and he told me the last bit again – ‘Hungarian, to prove I’m not an alien’.  At the end, he said ‘Well, that’s MY problem for the day, what’s yours?’ So I said ‘Well…not enough money, same as usual!’, which, thinking about it, with, as they say, the benefit of hindsight was, for once – and as incredible as it sounds, not a problem.

(When I got home and told Doll about this, she said she knew who I meant, and the bloke’s got a thing about immigrants. She doesn’t think he’s all ‘there’, anyway. What? – a McDonalds litter-clearer who wears a top hat most of the time?!)

Amusing moment of the day: two small groups in front of me, listening. One’s a bunch of foreign students, the other’s a family of five. At the end of a song, they all clap. I say ‘You must be from out of town’. The family laughed: they obviously got the joke. The one’s who definitely WERE from out of town, didn’t.

An hour and a half (too long in the cold) and I pack up, and just as I’m about to walk off, someone I haven’t seen for ages, turns up. It’s Dangerous Dave, looking rough, and with a dog – a small, placid-looking one – totally at odds with the character of it’s owner. DD says ‘You alright?’ I say ‘Yeah, I’m just about to go off’. DD – ‘Right…are you coming back here?’ I said I’d probably go up to The Butter Cross or around the corner, near the cathedral, then I asked if it was his dog. ‘Yeah, I need to go into Sainsbury’s but they won’t allow the dog in. I only want to get one thing. I couldn’t ask you…’ (no, you couldn’t). I say ‘Can’t you tie him up outside? – I’ve seen other dogs there’. ‘No, no. He’s only a few weeks old, the other dogs, they would attack him…well, I couldn’t ask you…I know alot of people ’round here…I’ll get someone…’ (good, you do that) ‘OK, see you later’, I say. ‘Yeah’, says Dangerous Dave. I might have done it if he was someone nice, but I know too much about him.

Break No.2: Same place, same war, different book: The First World War – A Miscellany. I turn to Mysteries Of The War – Snow On Their Boots: 1914 – In August, a rumour spread that thousands of Russian soldiers had been seen travelling through Britain, heading for the Western Front. They were said to be definitely Russian as they still had ‘snow on their boots’. It is thought they could have been Scottish troops who wore white spats on their footwear, and spoke in strong accents unintelligible to those from further south. A Lovat Scout was perhaps misunderstood after saying he was from Ross-shire – close enough to ‘Russia’ to the untrained ear. ‘…definitely Russian as they still had snow on their boots’ – were people really that stupid?! A long break. After 1 1/2 hours, I think it took almost an hour to warm up!

Last set. The Drongo who was at Vodafone when I got here is a few doors down. I stand about thinking if I should ask if I could set up, then think – ‘What the hell am I doing, thinking if I should ask the permission of a Drongo(!)’…just then, he comes up and says ‘You’re alright – you want to play?’ So I say ‘Yeah, just for twenty minutes or so – OK?’ There I am, asking his permission! Actually, the bloke’s alright – he’s always seemed quite peaceful – he usually says ‘hello’ to me, anyway. Maybe that’s why I’m asking if it’s OK. Anyway, he moves off.

It’s a short set (an hour and a half?!)…and there he is, the old guy with the ten week bus pass from Southampton, across the way and he’s looking at me. I know what he wants – the old favourite – Blackbird, but because I’m evil, I make him wait TWO songs for it, but at least they’re in the right direction: Here Comes The Sun and Girl.

The Laughing Woman, during Albatross: She says ‘Albatross?’ Me – ‘Yeah, the song I was playing, you like it?’ LW – ‘Oh, ha ha, I thought you meant up above – ha ha!’ Me – ‘No, more like pigeons’. LW – ‘Yes, ha ha!’ Now, when she turns to go down the road, I noticed her face became very stern – not at all like when she’s talking/laughing with me. Maybe it’s a thing that happens when she talks to people – a nervous thing.

So, a good day, and there was no one else out playing – weird for a Saturday. Not no one: no Rick Tarrant, no Guy and any of his franchise, no Sainsbury’s Tony, no Colin and his trumpet, no Frank – I haven’t seen him in ages, I wonder if…no, there’d be something in the Chronicle if anything happened to him.

Earnings: £52.54p