Diary Of A Busker Day 2235 Friday September 22nd 2023 Winchester High Street, Outside Starbucks
A 45 minute session down at the crossroads and I debut a new song, It Must Be Love, which I’ve been asked to play at a wedding near Alresford on October the 7th. I played it once with few mistakes, no donations forthcoming but so what, maybe next time.
A older man walking very slowly with a cane comes up.
‘I wonder, can you play Wonderful Land for me?’
‘Sure, I haven’t done it yet so I’m a bit out of practise but it should be alright.’
‘Oh good…I remember being at Butlins with my parents, oh, it must have been 1963, and they played that out the loudspeaker…it’s funny the things you remember.’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘I always wanted to see them when they did their 50th anniversary tour.’
‘The Shadows?’
‘Yes, but I never did.’
‘That’s a shame. Still, we’ve still got all the records, haven’t we?’
‘Yes…I’m always amazed how you remember what to play without any music in front of you.’
‘Well, I’ve actually got a terrible memory but I’ve played all this stuff hundreds of times, some of them, thousands of times so I’ve pretty well memorised everything…I bloody well still make mistakes, though!’
Anyway, my friend was a good man because in addition to his pound donation, he purchased a book, which verily made my day because five minutes later, it poured down because rain is the order of the day at the moment. I then effected a one-handed packup, as the other hand was holding my red-dotted umbrella up, then walked home. I’ve discarded the bike for the last few times as I’ve reinstated the Gretsch and don’t want to run the risk of crashing at high speed with it on my back. It rained all the way home and stopped the minute I got to the door, naturally.