Dairy Of A Busker Day 2608 Monday October 6th 2025 Winchester.
Walking the bike into the high street I was approached by a young man, one of the current “chuggers”. He complimented me on my bike – ‘Wow, that’s great. I used to have one of those.’ He then asked me what sort of music I played so I said ‘Fingerstyle guitar – you’ll hear me in a minute as I’m going to set up there (The Buttercross) ‘Really? I play a bit of that myself. What style?’ ‘A bit of Chet Atkins – know him?’ He ignored that so I asked him what HE played. ‘A bit of everything.’ Absolute bollocks! I bet if I’d said ‘Also, I’m a convicted rapist and a serial killer’ he would have said ‘Really? I do a bit of that myself.’ I said I have direct debits to a few charities, like Julia’s House, Water Aid and an animal one I can’t remember the name of, as I’d told his colleague standing nearby, who’d approached me a few hours before when I came into town for a few supplies. I wished him luck and carried on to the top spot.
Two songs in and I’m now approached by five Italian teenage girls who want to ask me a couple of questions. I said that was OK. ‘OK’ said the one who did all the talking, ‘Do you ever buy anything from charity shops?’ ‘Yeah, all the time. In fact, this shirt is from one. It’s a Paul Smith shirt and it was about £8, which is a lot less than what it would have been if I’d bought it new.’ ‘OK…would you ever work in a charity shop?’ I had to think about this one…’Um…yes, I think I would, though maybe not for a while. Maybe when I retire. They look like nice places to work. Nice people.’ ‘OK, thank you…I love your guitar!’ (the shiny red Squier) ‘Thank you, how long are you here for?’ ‘We are here this week.’ ‘Right, well you’ll probably see me a few more times!’
And they did. They saw me half an hour later, then an hour later and then during the last twenty minutes of the two hour set, when two of them sat down on the bench outside Spec Savers. And that was that. I got a fiver and sold a CD and ended up with £27.90. Nothing to write home about.