Diary Of A Busker Day 2609 Tuesday October 7th 2025 Winchester.
I wanted to give The Buttercross a rest so I was planning to set up at the Nando’s spot but there was a bloke sitting down playing a penny whistle opposite Sainsbury’s so that was out…I opted for the crossroads spot. I had the white Gretsch with the rear strap button newly repaired (collected from Beckett’s in Southampton) so I can stand up without the guitar falling on the ground. The repair was £25 but there’s two train fares on top of that so it makes it around £37 and I want that bloody guitar to pay for it’s repair!
…and it didn’t look like it was going to do that as there was zero coinage for more than half an hour. There were plenty of people filming; mainly Chinese girls in pairs or threes, but there were no donations from them. They’d get really embarrassed and pretend they weren’t filming when I’d suddenly look at them. That was really funny! Also, I’m not used to that guitar; it’s heavy and cumbersome and I’m not used to the sound but it’s the same with any guitar I haven’t played for awhile. You get used to something else and anything you haven’t played for awhile seems all wrong!
A man who bought a CD the other day turned up and asked if he could film me to send to his son, so he filmed me doing Albatross and while he was doing that, someone donated a fiver. At the end, the bloke thanked me and put in a fiver of his own. I reckon the first fiver was a catalyst for the second! A bit later, I caught him filming me again (Space Oddity) He was sitting at the table behind the pillar outside the Pret place. He was hiding his face, or trying to, but I could see his phone. How weird, because he could have filmed me up close like before. Maybe he thought once was enough.
Two of those Italian girls from yesterday walked by a couple of times. They must wonder how many guitars I’ve got (If I play tomorrow, I must take another one in so that’ll be three different guitars in three days). At least this is the one on the business cards!
The weather was fine; no rain or wind and the coinage picked up; I got a third fiver and sold three CDs and ended up with £51.51 for two hours and 20 minutes, so the guitar did indeed pay for it’s repair and then some. I was going to stop at the two hour mark but was quite enjoying playing the Gretsch in the end, so I extended the session!