Day 2728
Monday August 10th 2026
Winchester
Another late start in The Square and another all white wardrobe, this time augmented by an old pair of white plimsolls. I’m either a tennis player, a cricketer or Marty Hopkirk.
Coinage is really slow despite many people at the tables and a constant stream coming and going from the cathedral grounds. After an hour and ten minutes I’ve made one pound plus a pint bought for me by Gordon who lives opposite The Buttercross. The pint, like yesterday, is in a flimsy plastic glass and remains unsipped until near the end of the two hour session, so it’s lost pretty much most of it’s coldness by the time I get to it.
A few minutes after Gordon, a down and out plonks himself on the bench behind me. ‘I’ve been hear for thirty years and you’ve been a big part of my life. You’re the best guitar player I’ve heard here’ he says, for which I thank him. He’s well out of it – whenever I glance his way, he’s still attempting to roll a cigarette. He does what anyone does after a few too many – everything is in slow motion!
A bit later, there’s a beery breath on me from behind. It’s Mr. Thank You. He joins his mate on the bench and takes his shirt off. That is, Mr. Thank You takes HIS shirt off, not his mates…and occasionally gets up to dance about, coming over to shake my hand, which I really don’t like because his hand is sticky. Sod that, I mean who knows where that’s been?
He says ‘Thank you, thank you’ about a hundred times and if I reply with ‘Thank you’ he says ‘No, thank YOU.’
The coinage picked up a bit, mainly as I was packing up. A man gave a tenner and there were some pound coins from others and I even got a couple clapping after The Pirouettist – amazing!
In fact, it wasn’t quite the end. A young bloke came with two pints from The Old Vine – ‘I bought you a pint. Can you play any Elvis, Sinatra?’ So I plugged the guitar in again and did the Elvis one while he sat on the bench and twiddled with his phone. Anyway, this slight extension resulted in a fiver and a few more pound coins coming my way. £20.70 was the total. Half of what I made yesterday but then again, it’s a Monday.