Diary Of A Busker Day 2606 Saturday October 4th 2025 Winchester.
I wasn’t out and about yesterday because it was too rainy and windy. Well, the rain’s stopped (almost) today but it’s still windy. It has to be windy if it blows that heavy Pashley bike over, which it did. In town, that Christian bloke with the speaker was blasting it out just up from the Buttercross, so that was out, there wasn’t much happening in The Square but the crossroads was free.
That tall bloke with the beard sat down at the flat white pod table (he calls himself Z) and came over presently…
‘What’s the “B” for in your name, Marvin?’
‘Brian.’
Hey, they could make a film about your life and call it…’
I interrupt him ‘Life Of Brian, yeah.’
‘Yeah, anyway, what are you going to play next? You have a massive repertoire.’ (not according to the landlord of The Old Vine, I don’t – “Marvin two songs”, or is it three?)
‘I think I’ll do Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ I say as he walks off.
Su comes by and films me doing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – ‘I’ve got more than 80 new subscribers because of you and that video. I should pay you a commision!’ she says. I’m not bothered about a commision but the odd bit of coinage now and then wouldn’t go amiss.
A woman comes up and insists on buying me a coffee from the pod – ‘You’re always hear playing that nice music, it’s the least I can do.’
She goes to the pod and comes back in a few minutes with the coffee and a small cup of milk with a wooden spoon in it and I’m thinking how long that’s going to stand upright in this wind, which is so strong, I have to sit down most of the time with my right leg draped over the top of the case so it doesn’t blow shut. My stool blew away once and had to be rescued by a passer by. At least the laminated signs won’t blow away as they’ve been freshly restuck with gaffer tape, now £15.99 for a reel!
One interesting thing; someone came up and asked if I’d seen “the lady who plays the harp” – Meeta, obviously. Well, the answer is no, I haven’t seen her for ages, actually. Definitely haven’t seen her here, in her favoured spot, for a few weekends now, which is very strange. Of course, I automatically think the same thing I think whenever I haven’t seen any of the local characters for awhile, which is; they’re not here because they’re not anywhere, because they’ve died!
Oh, and the cup of milk lasted to the end, or at least until I’d finished playing; it finally succumbed to the wind when I was packing up.