Day 2758

Day 2758
Thursday November 12th 2026
Brussels

Day two of my Brussels residency, and I fancy a change of scenery and see how I fare somewhere else. and that somewhere else is the bit where all the roads come together near the Marche aux Herbes thing. My first idea was to set up in front of the Tissot watch shop, with my back against the wall, so to speak, but that was definitely out as, I had no sooner strapped the guitar on when a bloke came out of the shop – ‘You have to play over there, that’s where everyone plays’ and he points to the bit a few feet away in front of the Brussels Grill tables. Fair enough, mate. I’m a stranger in a strange land and I don’t want to piss anyone off.

So five minutes later I’m off, with Albatross, La Vie En Rose and then Ne Me Quitte Pas, quickly revisited in the hotel room. I mean, how can I come to Brussels and not play that one? It was probably written here…or maybe Paris, but anyway Monsieur Brel was definitely from Brussels so I’m bringing coals to Newcastle. I quite like this area – lots of tourists, lots of people video-ing me and that makes me feel special because I’m a sad old bastard. The thing is, when I’m walking about I’m just like everyone else, like every other tourist, but the minute I put a guitar on, I stand out – I have a purpose! It’s a pretty pathetic purpose sometimes but it’s a purpose, nonetheless.

A couple stand nearby then he comes up and says something I can’t understand so I say ‘English, I’m English.’
‘You know any Greek?’
‘Thank you!’
‘Yeah? You play Greek? GREEK?’
‘Thank…oh, GREEK, I thought you said GREAT. No sorry, I don’t do any Greek songs, sorry.’
‘OK…you play English, I sing.’
‘Sorry? You want to sing with me?’
‘Please, I sing, you play. Me, I really good singer.’
‘Right…well, the thing is I do these arrangements on one guitar. They’re special arrangements just for the one guitar.’
‘Yeah? You play, I sing. I sing anything, you play. I really good singer.’

I didn’t see any point in carrying on the conversation so I went into Waterloo Sunset and he gradually drifted off so I’m assuming he didn’t know it because by God, if he did, you can be damn sure he would have sung along.

It was all going well…and then it started drizzling but I kept on playing but it got worse and I had to stop and pull the gear undercover under one of the big umbrellas at the nearest Brussels Grill table. Of course, the minute I’d done that, it stops raining! Typical, happens every time.
Oh, I forgot. In the morning I bought a coinage purse for 4 euros. It’s got the Grand Place on it – lovely. Made in the People’s Republic of China, of course. Anyway, I quickly had to pile all the coinage (including a tenner and two fivers) into that and so it was christened.

So, start up again and it was very nice, lots of people smiling, coming up to donate, lots of filming…and I made the two hours. Well, a bit more because during the last song, James Bond – I knew it was time to stop because I played the famous last chord wrong – there was a man watching and he looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place him. Anyway, at the end he comes up – ‘Yesterday you played the Eleanor Rigby? Can you play?’
He’d seen me at the station! Well, I was happy to oblige, although I’d played it five minutes before. So what, who cares? A request is a request.

And that was that. I had a last look at the two topless women statues above the entrance to the Galeries Royales St Hubert. The ones above the Omnibus Omnia writing. One of the women is looking to the side, away from me, and the other has got her hand on her chin and is looking down at me, probably thinking ‘I’ve been here bloody ages. I’ve seen everything and you’re definitely nothing special, mate. And stop looking at my tits.’

It was another day of good coinage, slightly under yesterday’s but I did play fifteen minutes less. But I’m well chuffed with 86.49 euros – that’s £72.27.

Oh, on the way back to the hotel I popped into Churchill’s Bar but the bloke there said they hadn’t had any music there for years. He was a musician himself and he used to play there but not any more. He suggested I go to The Dubliner, where I had a beer with the son and heir last week, so I went there. They’ve got music on every day of the week but it’s pretty much all lined up for awhile so there’s no point as I’m out of here in two days. I’m not bothered.