Day 2688
Friday May 7th 2026
Winchester
Down at Nando’s there are loads of stalls and the fruit and veg blokes but no shouting today.
A woman donates, listens to the end of the song then – ‘Wow, a twelve-string, eh?’
‘Yeah, well, I’ve got a lot of guitars and I get bored with the same one and I’ve been playing this one for a bit – I’ve got to make it pay for itself.’
‘I can barely handle six strings, and I’ve got little fat fingers, makes it difficult.’
‘Well, I’ve had my own problems over the years, with my hands. You just have to get on with it, I suppose.’
‘Because you love it.’
‘Well, yeah, I suppose. I’ve never really done anything else.’
‘Where you from?’
‘Well, I’ve been here for…oh, I don’t know. About 28 years but before then, sort of all over the place. I grew up in Canada.’
‘Oh, whereabouts?’
‘London, Ontario.’
‘Oh yeah. I’m from Nova Scotia.’
‘Really? I never got that far east. And I left when I was young – I was twenty-one. The grass is greener, and all that…only it wasn’t!’
‘Oh, it is! I wish I’D left when I was in my twenties but I’m almost seventy and it’s not too bad.’
I meet Joe, who was Alex’s assistant for the interview done at the house awhile back. He’s with Kieran Mands – his friend from Scotland who buys both CDs, which makes my day, of course.
I don’t know much about Scotland, apart from I played at Barrowlands in Glasgow in the 1980’s, years before Joe and Kieran were born.
The other good thing (apart from the CDs) is I might have got a gig from playing today. A couple of women who live here stop and chat and one points at me. Then one comes over and asks if I can play at a party she’s having at the end of September – ‘I’ve just retired and I’m off in my camper van down to Portugal and Spain and I’m coming back in September.’
‘That’s great. I mean, now you’re retired you can go where you want anytime you want, can’t you?’
‘Yes, it’s great – can’t wait. I’m leaving tomorrow!’
A two-hour set and I did a couple of tunes I hadn’t done in ages – Cavatina and Dixie Mcguire. Now, how often are you going to see those done on a twelve-string? And do you want to?!
During the set, I sent a text message to Brian Hayward as this buzzing on the A string, also the B,is starting to get on my nerves.
I ended with Bond, while a strange woman, very short with not a lot of teeth, stood near and swayed from side to side. Coinage was £27.40.