Day 2701
Tuesday June 9th 2026
Southampton
Back to the big city. The good thing is there’s nobody else playing. The bad thing is it pours down the minute, no, the SECOND I start up with La Vie En Rose. I’m in front of the mall entrance in the middle of the street. Like an idiot I was determined to get through the song, however wet my lovely and very expensive Faith guitar got. Poor thing. During this, a man clearly with learning difficulties, runs up and utters something unintelligible before his carer pulls him away. All I can say is ‘I don’t know.’
Come the end of the song, I make a hasty retreat to just under the enormous overhang is, which protects the area just outside the mall entrance. It’s only a few feet away round the side of the round concrete thing I was set up at. However, this takes a bit of time as I need to make a few trips. Fortunately, a young man passing by saw my predicament and helped me by grabbing the suitcase and putting it in the new and dry spot.
I’m now facing the entrance – this is the spot where everyone else seems to set up, which is why I can tell if someone’s playing once I exit John Lewis. Coinage is slow, although there are a few people listening undercover, waiting for the rain to ease off. One young bloke listens for around twenty minutes – I catch him smiling at me and I reckon he’ll donate. Not a chance, he suddenly waves and he’s off.
A man comes up on his bike – ‘You play any Kenny Rogers?’
‘Kenny Rogers?’
‘Yeah. The Gambler.’
‘No, sorry. I used to play it years ago in Canada, well about 45 years ago, when I was in a country band, but no, not now.’
I wonder if I reminded him of Kenny. It’s happened a few times before! It’s the white beard.
‘What about Oasis?’
‘No, sorry.’
‘So what DO you do?’
‘Well, stuff like what I was doing when you came up (Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – he interrupted me, rather rudely I thought)…stuff from the sixties, fifties, pop songs.’
‘You got a card reader?’
‘No, I’ve got this, though.’ I point to the QR code.
‘Nah, I don’t do that. You here regularly? I might have some money next time I see you.’
‘Well, about once every two weeks, I suppose.’
‘OK, maybe see you again, cheers.’
‘Yeah, alright, cheers.’
There was an amusing incident when a mother gave a coin to her toddler boy and he bloody well lobs it right at me and I had to duck to avoid a possible serious medical emergency to my head. He chucked it so fast I couldn’t see where it landed so we were all looking for it – ‘It’s OK, I’ll find it when I pack up, thanks anyway!’ Mother and coin-lobbing son weren’t deterred, though, and carried on. I found it a minute later, behind me. I picked it up and handed it to the kid. Mother says ‘Now, just drop it in there’ while gripping his hand. ‘There, that’s a good shot, thank you, and now you know how to do it!’ I said.
A woman a bit older than me came up to donate and say she was going on a cruise on the Cunard line. I said ‘Oh, I used to play on the cruise ships years ago, around 2013. I didn’t do many, just a handful. Royal Caribbean – Liberty Of The Seas, Serenade Of The Seas, and the NCL – the Norwegian line…Norwegian Sprit, Jade…huge ships, they were.’
‘Really? Well, I’m going to New York, to not think about the current state of the world. I always go on Cunard, I’ve got family members who work for them.’
Oh right, so do you get a discount because of your family?’
‘Oh no! No, I don’t do that. Are you here a lot? I should have more money next time.’
‘I’m here once every two weeks, sometimes not.’
‘Yeah? Maybe see you again.’
‘Have a nice cruise, then…hope you enjoy New York!’
I got through the usual two hours without any more rain, and took £20.57 after the £6.25 train fare was taken off. Nothing to write home about but it got me out of Winchester.