Diary Of A Busker Day 575 Wednesday June 18th 2014 Winchester (Opposite Vodafone, Time: 4:35-6:02pm).
A late start, as I’m trying to finish that bloody painting in time for Clare’s birthday next week.
An offensive moment near the end of Here Comes The Sun. Two women and a small boy turned the corner just to my right. One of the women was wearing a dirty white vest, hair scraped back, fat and ugly. In short, repulsive. They came and stood in front of me and the repulsive one destroyed my train of concentration with ‘You know the way to The Bakers pub?’ She meant The Bakers Arms, the scummy place down the alley, nearby. And I thought ‘Yeah, that’s the sort of place scum like you go to!’ Because anyone who interrupts anyone clearly in deep concentration and devotion to their ‘art’ IS scum and deserves to be VILIFIED!
Oh yes, if there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s someone asking me a question in the middle (or near the end) of a song. It’s out of order, unacceptable, etc …and it makes my blood boil! Arrgghhh!! So, she asks the question and I carry on playing and just look at her…then she says it again – ‘You know where The Bakers is?’, and I carry on playing but seeing as she doesn’t get it, I stop and say ‘I’ll talk to you after the song’, and start it up again. She says ‘Oh, sorry’, and they walk over to the ice-cream vendor bloke and ask him.
But when she said ‘Sorry’, it wasn’t an apology. She said it like SHE was the offended party. I mean, I know it’s not Wembley but DON’T COME UP AND INTERRUPT! Unless accompanied by the words ‘I’d like to buy a CD, please’. In fact, the ‘please’ is optional. And that’s the ONLY exception I’ll make!
I see two familiar people. One who usually stops to remark, but doesn’t today. That was Philip, who I’ve been starting to worry about, as I hadn’t seen him for awhile. The other, one who hasn’t stopped for ages, but does so now, was Anthony, the old guy. I was playing the zither-style version of The Third Man and he came up and said ‘You’re the third man’. But Philip, hmm…maybe he’s becoming more ill and doesn’t want to stop, as it may lead him into talking about it. After he donated – and he always does, he just smiled and carried on.
After an hour, I noticed the amp was dying, and although I tried to get to the hour and a half mark – it was going fast, I managed to do While My Guitar Gently Weeps, got through a bit of Twelve-String Shuffle, and that was it. It was all fuzzing and fading in volume. What had happened was I’d switched it on by mistake yesterday when it was in the bag at home, and I’d only noticed it after about three hours.
Earnings: £12.55p (+ one 5 euro cent coin)
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