Diary Of A Busker Day 548 Wednesday April 23rd 2014 Winchester (opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:50-3:35pm).
A miserable day, weather-wise: completely grey sky with drizzle. It wasn’t too bad when I went in but it gradually got worse. One good thing, though, I debut a new song – California Girls, which I learnt last night. Actually, I only wanted to figure out the intro, which I’ve always thought was great – and found out it was Brian Wilson’s favourite – but then, after I worked it out, I wanted to know the chords to the verse, so I ended up doing the whole thing.
The intro is the tricky part – on one guitar, anyway – but the rest is not too bad. The only thing is, it’s all on barre chords, so it’s pretty tiring on the old left thumb. So I played it – made a few mistakes, but a man donated £2 at the end, so I named it Song Of The Day. In fact, I was so thrilled – a £2 coin for a song’s debut – that I told the bloke I learned it last night and this was the debut (I also apologised for the mistakes, of course). He said ‘Keep it up!’
After half an hour, the drizzle got heavier but I managed another 15 minutes before packing up. My idea was to take a break, then see if the undercover Pentice area was free, and maybe do an hour there. When I came in, there was a guy playing there. In fact, he passed me at the end of the first set during The Third Man and said ‘Harry Lime’ and donated 20p, I think. Anyway, I needed the toilet and to dry off a bit, so…
…Waterstones! and I saw a funny book in the war book display, called Jambusters – The Story of The Women’s Institute in The Second World War. On the back it said: “Julie Summers’ recounts how thousands of women rallied round during the dark days of Hitler, baking cakes and knitting jumpers as if their lives depended on it” – that made me laugh. Jambusters – ha!
Back outside, the drizzle continues…unabated. Up the road, almost to The Butter Cross, there’s the homeless guy who’s usually sitting, ‘playing’ his whistle in the alleyway, like he was when I came in, so I can’t set up. I don’t have anything against him – he always says hello. I thought about going up to ask if he would mind if I did half an hour, but then thought – no, let the bloke stay.
Earnings: £8.34p
2 comments for “Diary Of A Busker Day 548”