Diary Of A Busker Day 2314 Friday February 23rd 2024 Winchester High Street
Bloody rain all the time these days. I got out during a break; it looked I’d got an hour before it started again. In the high street, opposite the Buttercross, Don Lavelle was on the bench having a break from his latest; a painting of the view of the counter of the Winchester Bakery from around the back of the monument.
‘That girl in the pink was here earlier, someone came and told her to move. She was too loud’ he says. I said I remembered her. She was the one in the Pentice the other day, advertising her Railway gig.
‘Well, she was singing then she stopped and there was just the music – she weren’t doing anything.’
‘You mean there was taped stuff?’
‘Yeah, it was stupid, I mean what’e the point o’ that?’
‘You’re right Don, it IS stupid.’
‘Oh well, you going to entertain us?’
‘I suppose so…until it starts pouring down again.’
‘You know there’s a Met thing, an app, where the signals bounce off the rain and you can see the cloud coming towards us…or not.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah. It’s not radar, it’s something else.’
I got half an hour in before it started HAILING! I mean, it was cold but I didn’t think it was THAT cold.
I had to pack up pretty sharpish, as well; I put the guitar in the case and didn’t even take the coinage out. Unheard of!
After taking shelter in the Pentice, and being accosted by some canvassers who I thought were God blokes – I said ‘Jesus Christ?’
‘No, animal welfare, dogs.’
‘Oh right, no, sorry.’
‘Is that worse than Jesus?’
‘No, no, but I’ve got to rush.’
‘God bless, then!’ he said, which made me laugh.
Anyway, a few minutes loitering in Boots then I decide to get a cup of something down the road in Pret but came across my regular Big Issue woman outside Tesco, bought the magazine, chatted about the weather (what else?) ‘It was sunny this morning’ she said.
‘I know but not now. I’m wondering if I should get a cup of coffee down there or go home.’
‘I don’t know…actually, go home!’
‘Alright then, I will!’
But I didn’t. I did the unprecedented and went back up the road and into Nero’s and got an Americana for £3:30 – that’s a large one, and sat down opposite the counter, looking out the window at the Buttercross and waiting for the rain to stop. The weather on my totally unreliable weather thingy on my phone said ‘Rain stopping in 21 minutes and starting again 25 minutes later .’ 25 minutes to play? Why not? Well, unbelievably, it did stop after 21 minutes but, unreliably, it didn’t start again 25 minutes later. It started again 70 minutes later, so I got almost thrice as long to play for the mighty peasants, during which I earned a tenner for the Gnossienne, instantly awarding it Song Of The Day status, and then sold two CDs (the Two For £15 deal). Result and that’s enough. My fingers and feet were cold and I was starting to feel a bit dizzy. Fucking lightweight.