Diary Of A Busker Day 702 Friday March 6th 2015 Winchester (1. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 2:45-3:20pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 3:28-4:35pm, 3. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 5:04-5:35pm).
I start off at somewhere I haven’t been since last year, and they must have missed me. One of the older blokes in G & H waves to me from inside the shop. Very heart-warming but the euphoria is short lived. I play a full (as opposed to an empty) 20 minutes before the first donation. In fact, there were only THREE for the whole session, totalling £3. At least they were consistent: a pound each time. But it’s no good…and it’s bloody cold, despite being 12 degrees on the weather website. That’s what the wind does.
So I pack up after 35 minutes and head to the High Street where I fare a bit better. A woman even put a £5 note in after Wonderful Land (Song Of The Day). It’s cold, though, and I mess up Moon River although the 5th Gnossienne was OK. I must keep playing that one. I also re-introduced Lagrima back into the set, and messed that up as well, and that’s an easy one! I manage just over an hour. I think I might have to leave the bike across the way, where I can see it, as I kept looking behind me to make sure it was still there against the wall of the chocolate shop. Paranoia.
A toilet break then a short stop upstairs at Waterstones where I do a quick coinage count-up. Just under £20 – not too bad for an hour and 40, but I need a few more quid so I bombed down to the arse-end for half an hour.
That bloke who’s always got a Peter Green story turned and started going on about Albatross. I think he heard me do it up the other end. He asked how I was getting on with the cold and I said I’d almost had enough and was going home soon. He said ‘It’s 17 tomorrow, they say’. I said it was supposed to be 12 to 14 today but it’s the wind that’s the problem. He asked if people were generous and I said they’re more generous in Hythe, which is where I’m going tomorrow. He asked why that was and I said I didn’t know but maybe people are more generous in small towns…or maybe they’re just starved of entertainment! He said ‘Well, I hope you make a few bob’. I said ‘Cheers’ and went into Albatross. As he went off, he said ‘Still great’, which was jolly decent of him.
Earnings: £27.08p