Diary Of A Busker Day 2443 Friday September 21st 2024 Winchester.
She’s here and I haven’t even started playing yet. I was parking the bike next to the Buttercross and I saw her grey-headed form approaching from the corner of my eye. So, another Day with Claire…and I’ve got the double-neck so there’ll be a lot of photos and videos into the bargain. One weird thing, I decided to risk standing up with it and I found that it was easier to play than the much lighter Gretsch. I’m not sure why but possibly because the back of the Gretsch sticks out a bit so it’s resting more of an angle away from me (especially when it’s resting on my fat gut) and maybe that’s increasing the tension on my shoulders.
That old bloke in the motorised buggy turns up and seems very eager indeed to resume his dancing partnership with Claire. They go at it for a handful of songs – I play When I’m Sixty-Four at the end, which of course has a big “Aww” factor with everyone watching a couple of old fogies on the dancefloor.
Lots of others take a short twirl with her, including some schoolkids. One idiot boy seems to take the piss a bit but she’s not having it, gently hitting him on his arm and shoo-ing him off to join his giggling mates.
At one point Claire handed me a £10 note. I said ‘that’s a lot of money Claire, are you sure?’ ‘Well…yes. A woman just gave it to me.’
We’re both paid a visit from the local constabulary. Four of them come down the road; a WPC talks to me and a PC talks to Claire. Apparently that arsehole drongo from a while back has been charged and will go to court. If he pleads not guilty, there’s a small chance we might have to go to court but they don’t think he will and even if he does, it’s more likely the police officers will testify because they witnessed his behaviour down the road not long after he was hassling us. I said ‘but you must also have some CCTV stuff from here.’ ‘Well, no. There are cameras up the road and down the road but not right here.’ ‘No cameras at the Buttercross?’ I ask. Apparently not.
I said I thought his behaviour was weird because I’d seen him about for years and that was the only time he was ever aggressive to me. The WPC said ‘yes, I know but we think he’d probably taken something dodgy.’ I said ‘well he’s got some dodgy friends.’ Anyway, she says he’ll probably get an order banning him from the city centre, the same as that cunt Gary Page.
I managed two hours and ten minutes and was getting a bit weary by then – I had a brain blockage during Mr. Sandman where I forgot what came next so I had to stop and exclaim loudly ‘I’ve forgotten it!’ and that was the end of that.