Day 2755
Friday October 30th 2026
Winchester
Another late session, starting at 4:40, and another very mild day. No need for the scarf and tank top but I’ve got them in case it does get cold. And again, I’m outside Nat West. The guitar is slightly less taxing for the left hand as I’ve filed down the nut grooves to lower the action – always a precarious operation because I invariably file too much off at least one groove. In fact, I did yesterday – the heavier gauge G, so it’s buzzing ever so slightly. I can live with that for the benefit of an easier life.
A man with a camera gestures (pointing at his camera), is it OK to take some photos? Of course it is – it’s just nice to be asked…once in a bloody while because some people don’t bother! I’m facing the Buttercross, still enclosed in its protective cover. I had a chat with Don Lavelle a few hours before and he says a woman who knows all about everything in Winchester told him it would be unveiled before Christmas – ‘Then we can a have a bit of character restored, can’t we?’ ‘If you say so, Don!’ I replied.
A older man produced the golden nugget – a tenner, around the half hour mark and a few minutes after, a woman dressed in red and orange with orange hair sits down on the bench. After ten minutes, she comes up –
‘Hello there’ she says.
‘Hi.’
‘You know me.’
‘Do I? Sorry, what’s your name?’
‘Caroline. I used to busk, playing the violin.’ Of course! Now I know. She’d often play in that fold franchise run by a bloke whose name I can’t remember.
‘Sorry Caroline, I didn’t recognise you. Your hair’s a different colour.’
‘Yes, it was going grey so I thought I might as well dye it.’
‘Yeah, why not? Anyway, there’s a photo of you in my book, the first one, I think.’
‘I know…you fancy a cuppa?’
I said that would be nice – I want to do a few more songs to reach the hour mark (I didn’t want to play much today). Caroline has come up from Southampton to see a folk duo – Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage at The Arc, onstage at 7:30. She sits back down to listen and have her sandwiches – ‘It’s so expensive in Winchester, I’ve made my own sandwiches. And I got the bus here, it’s only three quid.’
‘Wow, that IS cheap. Have you got a bus pass or something?’
‘No, I’m disabled. See there (turns and points to the bench)…they’re my crutches. I had a car accident.’
Twenty minutes later, I’m packed up and off to buy Caroline a hot chocolate with almond milk at Nero’s – we got in just before they shut. It was nice to catch up with Caroline – we never spoke much years ago and I can’t help thinking there’s something not quite right about her. She’s friendly enough, though I don’t remember her being nearly as friendly as she is now. She wants to keep in touch, maybe meet up again. I give her a business card and she says she’ll ring me. I don’t know, there’s something not quite right and I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe the accident’s got something to do with it. I mean, a car crash can be a serious thing. It’s left her on crutches, for a kick off.
Anyway, after Nero’s, I walked her to The Arc as she couldn’t remember where it was – she hasn’t been to Winchester for ages. We said goodbye (she kissed my cheek and she’d never done that before – that’s the sort of thing I’m talking about), and I walked back via City Road. Slightly longer than the usual walk back, missing out the walk across the almost pitch black Oram’s Arbor, which I have to say is quite a relief. I’m a scared old man in the dark! Still, good to do a different walk back once in awhile. Gotta keep life interesting.
The earnings? £26.60. Not bad for an hour and ten minutes.