Day 2672

Day 2672
Monday March 30th 2026
Winchester

It’s a full house, probably due to it being the first day of half-term, meaning there are loads of kids about, meaning more coinage (“mummy, can I have some money to give to that man with the guitar?” – we’ll see). So, from top ‘o the town to the bottom – that middle-aged singing bloke at or nearest you can get to The Buttercross, halfway down there’s Slouching Kev with his American songs of unrequited love, infidelity, betrayal and alcoholism. In other words, Country Music…and down at the flower seller’s alley, a pretty young woman singing to backing tracks and raking in the coinage, of course. The Square is dead which means I don’t have a choice in the matter and it’s down to one of my old haunts from fifteen years ago, down the windy arse-end at the spot known as the “opposite Oxfam spot” or “near the Gospel Hall doorway.”

Well, if anyone told me five years ago that I’d be doing Neil Sedakas’s Laughter In The Rain out here, I would have been horrified and probably fainted or gone into a coma but it’s odd what time does to a person and it surely hath come to pass. I was thinking of doing Love Will Keep Us Together, which I remember from the days of my youth in London, Ontario, but having tried to work it out and become bored, I suddenly remembered Laughter In The Rain and was curious about the chords so I did that one instead. I mean it’s worth doing just for the killer key change up to the chorus. And the cheesy lyrics translate well on the guitar! I mean, I don’t have to worry about all that…and it’s such a great melody so why not? I spent all of last Wednesday and most of Thursday on it – I became a bit obsessed, actually, but I reckon you have to, to work out stuff – then did a SpewTube video on Friday, after botching around 50 takes.
Anyway, after all that, I was quite confident about debuting it on the street. So confident, in fact, that I book-ended the set with it and was satisfied with the performance, although it earned no coinage. Still, I’m convinced it will! I mean, so many people will know it so it’s another string to my bow, or rather my 12-string guitar, though 13 strings is a bit much.

I did an hour and ten minutes – only a short one as I had a guitar lesson with Jerry a bit later. As always, it was windy and I had to keep my foot over the top of the case now and then and despite the kids, the coinage wasn’t anything to write home about, so I won’t write home about it. I’ll write it here, though. £11.70.