Day 2685
Sunday May 3rd 2026
Salisbury/Winchester
Bit of a tour of the south happening here! Today’s a double header. First, to Salisbury at the request of Sally Edwards who contacted me about playing again for the arts event in the market square. She needed someone for the 10 to 12 midday slot and as I haven’t been to Salisbury for ages, I agreed although I’m not getting my hopes up about acquiring any significant coinage!
There’s some crackage about, though. At one point I look up and see a couple at the nearby Felicity Jowitt Art and Design stall. The man is bending down, attending to his shoes and I’m presented with a full view of most of his arse crack…and his still at it five minutes later? What’s the problem? Is he learning to tie his bloody laces? I can’t unsee that, mate.
A bit later, a bunch of motorbikes pull up at the side of the main road on my left and spend a few minutes revving up, which is so loud, I have to stop playing until they bugger off.
The only other thing of note is I have to retune the guitar no less than four times during the set, as the growing heat of the morning keeps affecting the neck. This is very unusual as that guitar – the Faith 12-string – is usually very stable. Anyway, good job it’s got an “in-house” tuner and I don’t have to fiddle about with an electronic one, clipping it on and off every time I need to retune it.
At the end of the proceedings the coinage is £20.10 plus a 10 euro note – that’ll go in the next european holiday fund. Apparently, it’s worth £8.53 so that brings the Salisbury total to £28.63, which is OK, and in due course Sally will pay the 20 odd quid for the petrol.
After a couple of hours back home, I’m out again and in The Square, set up at the (literally) tail end of a massive chalk drawing of a fish, which is very authentic and obviously done by a proper artist. During the set I’m wondering about this…and then I find out. A young woman comes up and educates me – ‘I’m from the Project White Hart, which is a conservation project set up to save the wild chalk stream Atlantic salmon from extinction, and we’re doing a time-lapse thing with that camera (she points out a camera on a pole near the cathedral grounds entrance)…over three days, until Tuesday, and it will show that fish as it vanishes, like when it rains. Look, this is what it looked like yesterday (she gets her phone out and shows me a photo of the salmon)…see?’
‘Yeah, it’s great. Wow. A bit different from the usual chalk stuff done by all the children!’
‘It was done by Julian Beever. We’re just trying to raise awareness.’
‘Right, I hope I’m not in the way, am I?’
‘Oh no, just as long as you don’t mind being filmed. We’ve only got the back of your head, anyway.’
‘Oh no, you don’t want that! But no, it’s fine.’
‘Do you want me to film you – just a short one, and you can put it on your Instagram and we can share it.’
‘Sure, that’s fine…um, can you do that for me. I mean, I’m on Instagram but I’m not sure how to put a video on there!’
‘Oh bless! Yes, sure.’
And she does that – films me doing a bit of The Third Man and puts it up. She’s very friendly and says she’s seen me lots and likes the guitar playing.
And that’s about it. Two hours got me a rather disappointing £18.47 – not very good for a bank holiday weekend…I even made more in Salisbury! The total is £47.10. Anyway, after I finished the last song, I turned around and bowed to the camera as I’m now part of Project White Hart!