Diary Of A Busker Day 670 Saturday November 15th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 1:36-1:39pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 1:58-3pm, 3. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 3:05-3:44pm).
I’m off to Istanbul tomorrow and back via Rome next Saturday, so this is it for a week. Also, I need to take whatever I make today to the bank as I need to get as much into the account as I can, along with the £30 I made the last few days, which isn’t much due to all the rain.
I’m also a bit stressed about the fact that I might have to fork out £40 for an excess baggage thing, which should have been sorted out (by someone else!) before now. I’ll get the money back but I don’t need the hassle…anyway, into town…there’s a bunch of young buskers at The Butter Cross…and there he is, Ron, dancing in front of them!
I haven’t been round the corner at Pavilion for awhile, so I head there and open with Albatross…and close with it because it starts to rain (of course). As I’m stood up, trying to decide what to do, a man on my left says ‘Maybe you should call on the almighty, to stop the rain. He might hear you’. I say ‘I doubt if he would…I wouldn’t call on him, anyway, as I don’t believe in any god’. He then asks if I play in any other places, so I tell him about Hythe and say how much more generous they are there, to which he replies ‘Maybe because people are friendlier in small towns. Winchester’s alot bigger. Maybe people in bigger towns are more lonely’. An interesting theory: loneliness = miserliness(?)
I ask if he’s from here. He says ‘No, I’ve come from Bromley. I’m part of the Croydon Male Voice Choir. We’re at the cathedral tonight’ – and I’ve just slagged off god! In fact, I did more than that – I said he didn’t exist, and this bloke must be going to sing religious stuff. Anyway, he never berated me for it, and a bloody good job, the mood I’m in. I asked if he was staying the night. No, he’s going to Fareham then on to Bromley – take about an hour and a half. I said that because the rain didn’t look like it was going to stop, I’d take a look around the corner to see if a place under The Pentice was free. So we said our goodbyes and he said ‘Good luck, wherever you go’, and I went through the alley…and LO AND BEHOLD! – there was no one at The Butter Cross end of The Pentice! So I set up undercover and started up…
…and the first person I see after starting up with Albatross, for the 2nd time in 10 minutes, is a bloke on my left wearing a jumper with CMVC (Croydon Male Voice Choir) on it. I thought ‘They’re following me around – they must have been let loose before the gig!’ Then George turns up and starts asking about guitar playing: what fingers do I use to play fast runs? Well, I don’t really play any fast runs…and I wasn’t in the mood for any questions, either. In the end, I said ‘You don’t mind if I carry on playing?’ and he said ‘No, not at all, you carry on’, so I did, and he stopped talking and gradually drifted off. I felt a bit bad about that, actually. He’s a big fan of mine – probably my biggest.
I did just an hour there, as all the people were getting to me, meaning there’s alot of people, as it’s Saturday afternoon, but with a miniscule percentage of contributors. In the end, the rate was the usual: £10 per hour, so that was OK, but so many people, and walking behind me, and inbetween me and the bike which was against the wall of the chocolatiers behind me. That unnerves me – people walking behind…and the bike: I kept looking to see if it was still there because I didn’t lock it up. I usually do. Crazy, when It’s right behind me!
After that, I went around the corner again and did 40 minutes and got about £5, and finished up and got to the bank before it closed at 4. I was in such a rush to bag the newly-acquired coins up, with the other coins that were already bagged up, that I didn’t do an ‘in-depth’ count-up. But it was around £15.
Earnings: approx. £15
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