Day 2725
Sunday August 2nd 2026
Winchester
Another Sunday in The Square and another hot day, though, at 26, a bit cooler than usual. No jacket these days, just a yellow Reiss linen shirt and a new pair of white trousers from TK Maxx in town.
Coinage started off fine with a few pound coins within the first five minutes and a CD sale with the first half hour. That was due to Je Te Veux, which is unfortunately not on the CDs but she was happy with the other two Satie selections which WERE on it.
A posh old lady stopped by – ‘I haven’t seen you for ages, where HAVE you been?’
‘Well, I’ve been around. We must have just missed each other…like ships in the night. But I have been around although I’m away for a few days from tomorrow.’
‘Oh, where are you going?’
‘Vienna.’
‘Oh, how lovely! Been there before?’
‘No, never. Have you been?’
‘Yes, I have.’
‘Really? When.’
‘Oh…I don’t know. The thing is, I seem to be able to remember things from sixty or seventy years ago but not things from say twenty years ago.’
‘Yeah, I’m a bit like that. Weird, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. Vienna’s a big place, you know.’
‘Is it? Well, what I do know is it’s going to be really hot, like 39 degrees the whole time we’re there but I didn’t know that when I booked the flight and I can’t cancel it. The good thing is the apartment is air-conditioned.’
‘That’s good. You’ll just have to keep to the shade. In fact, I’m on the way to the cathedral. It’s nice and cool in there!’
‘That’s good. Well, see you when I’m back. Nice to see you again.’
Like a lot of people I’ve met countless times, I’ve never known her name!
Anyway, I mark my imminent Austrian departure with a rendition of The Third Man.
I packed up after an hour and forty minutes – I couldn’t make the two hour mark. I don’t know, I just got a bit bored and the coinage seemed to dry up. Anyway, I fancied a change of scenery so I set up in the shade outside the mobile phone shop (now closed for the night) near the Buttercross. In fact, my timing was good, as a man was packing some musical stuff up a few feet away. His family turned up to help him cart it all off.
The coinage was slow but I had a stroke of good fortune. Graham walked by and stopped up the road to listen to Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Then I thought “Hmm, I really ought to do his favourite” – that’s the Robinson Crusoe Theme, though I haven’t played it in ages. But I know he’s waiting for it. I can feel it in my bones! Oh well, here goes…one or two mistakes high up on the fretboard but otherwise fine…and I’m rewarded with a tenner! And a good job because the rest of the coinage for the hour was a mere £3.50. Cheers Graham!
So, Vienna, here I come. Unfortunately, the Third Man Museum will have to wait as it’s only open on Saturdays and we’re leaving on Friday. Still, I can seek out Harry Lime’s doorway and the big ferris wheel.
Total coinage for two hours and 45 minutes was £40.15. That’ll do.