Diary Of A Busker Day 518 Friday March 7th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Pavillion, Time: 1:37-2:57pm).
It’s a weekday but what the hell, I’m going to set up if The Bitch is working or not…and it doesn’t look like she is – good! The temperature – good, too: late 50s I reckon, in the old style. I even unbutton the coat!
Posh BrYan’s at his usual spot – down the road, outside his posh place. I think he’s there every posh luncheon. He seems to be there every time I’m here, anyway. He comes over and graces me with practically a proper conversation, prompted by my noticing his hand’s bandaged up. The conversation: ‘Hello Bryan (I don’t emphasize his beloved ‘Y’, of course), you seem to have done an injury to your hand’. Bryan, very loudly and very poshly – ‘O H H H , Y E S S S , so I W O N ‘T be playing the guitar. You won’t have any competition from M E E for awhile, you know’. Me – ‘I didn’t know you played – you’re welcome to come out here and play’. BrYan – ‘Ohhh…I don’t play, ha ha, but if I DID, I’d certainly be better than THAT chap – who was he?…the other day…RUBBISH!’ Me, adopting BrYan’s posh way of emphasising key words by slowing them down – ‘Chris, hmm…he D O E S play A L O T of notes…(then, to quote Mr. Morcambe)…not necessarily in the right order, eh?’
This really makes BrYan laugh. He says – ‘O H H H yes, probably the funniest thing on TV. Morcambe – “I play all the right notes”, Y E E E S S S ! I’ve seen it a few times. It gets less funny the more times I see it (a bit like you, BrYan)…the other really funny thing on TV was the CHANDELIER one from Only Fools And Horses, you know?’ ‘No’, I say. BrYan – ‘Don’t you know THAT one?’ ‘No, I don’t’. BrYan explains it – ‘When they’re in a stately home and Grandpa’s trying to lower a chandelier and he finally works out how to do it and he lowers THE O T H E R ONE!…’ Well, BrYan’s never spoken to me at such (posh) length. I’m honored, no – H O N O R E D. Posh sod.
Later on, another remarkable meeting, with a CD buyer. In fact I sell no less than THREE of the old CDs today, which is OK but I might lower the price of the newer ones – back down to £8. Anyway, the buyer – a man, early 30s – really likes my Albatross arrangement (Song Of The Day, because of this), and he’s seen me a few times before. He comes out with a classic – ‘You’re the sound of Winchester, you know!’, which really makes me laugh. I say ‘Really?’ He says ‘Yeah, I mean you’ve been here for years – how long, five years?’ Me – ‘Three and a half – since the end of 2010. It feels like a lot longer though, sometimes. I’m starting to get alot of aches and pains’ – I AM, too. This one on my left shoulder, I’ve had a week now.
He comes up with a novel cure – ‘Maybe you should start moving about a bit. You know, get some choreography in it’. Me – ‘Choreography?’ ‘Yeah…like what Mick Jagger does, you know?!’ Me – ‘Right…although I probably wouldn’t be able to play this stuff, bopping about – that’s why I sit down. You mean move around doing Albatross?’ ‘Yeah, really slowly to that one!’ Ha! – I can just see it: gliding around like some demented, aged ballet dancer, playing Albatross around the tables out here!
A really good day, or rather an hour and twenty minutes. Apart from the CDs, one bloke put a £5 note in the bucket. Maybe it was the sun being out, which reminds me – a Japanese guy went by as I was doing Here Comes The Sun and said ‘Here Comes The Sun’, and that was it, as if I don’t know the name of the song I’m playing.
Earnings: £24.18p (Including three £5 CDs)