Day Off

My fingers hurt.


LH
Th large amount of missing skin
1 ok
2 small blister
3 large blood blister
4 (don't use it on the harp)

RH
Th large blood blister
1 popped blister and missing skin
2 painful small blister
3 Ok.
4 (don't use it on the harp)








My wrists also hurt, and my shoulders are quite painful due to carrying a harp and a massive wassai backpack. Instead of busking, today I'm going to make postcards with Suz, and eat cake and I'M STILL IN MY PYJAMAS, and I'm going to write some more harp tunes. Also, it's raining horribly. So, I'll take today off, and play again tomorrow.

It's so strange, I play this often normally, but I don't usually play so loud or forcefully.

Right, I must go back to DS9. Yeaaah, Star Trek.

Swindon, locations, Oxford.

I have misplaced my camera cable, so I will post texty things, and insert the pictures at a later date. OH MY GOODNESS THERE'S AN SD CARD SLOT ON MY LAPTOP GOOD JOLIBOOK GOOD LAPTOP.                                                  

Swindon is very, very pretty. Ok, that is sort of a bit of a lie,  but the bits I chose to busk in were.

In this post I'm going to discuss busking spots. Originally I saw some pretty water fountains in the crossroads of two busy highstreets, and thought, ooh, benches, I'll busk here.

Water features are so annoying. Also, loud. Also, I was in direct sun, the space was too large (so the harp didn't carry) and people were watching but were so far away they were able to run away without feeling obliged to donate.


I found  a lovely little sitting area - in the shade, in a narrower stretch of high-street. People were using the benches, and the harp carried a lot further. I did significantly better here.

I normally try to look for benches - I have a harp stool but I prefer to be sitting up higher - the harp's more stable and I'm more at eye height to people.





I haven't really spoken much about travel, but yesterday I had ALL THE TRAINS.

 Taking the train with all my luggage is a faff. However, FirstGreatWestern have wonderful train seats, which I can put the harp in and sit down. I'll take a photo on the next train - but I was in the quiet carriage and thought it'd be a bit cheeky to ask people to photograph me when they were snoozing quietly.

The train from Didcot Parkway to Oxford, however, was not enjoyable. It was crowded (due to being late, and due to the earlier train being cancelled) and I had to huddle in a doorway. Again, not unbearable, but rather uncomfortable.

And then I got to Oxford, met wonderful friend who found my harp tuning key in the middle of a forest up in Edinburgh, and brought it down for me. Absolutely grand.


And then pints, in the best pub ever. And crisp testing.


And now I'm hanging out with two friends in Haddenham. Awesome. Boom.
















Earnt: £117 
Spent: £47 (Hah, wine, train tickets, pints)
Remaining: £70
Time spent playing: 7.5 hours

Busking etiquette, Cheltenham, and more rain.

Today I found myself back into Cheltenham for about 9.30am, whereupon at the prom busking spot I found another busker reaching it at the same time as me. I had a rather lovely chat with him (checking when he was planning on being there till, chattering about life etcetc with him, turning down free ciggies) and merrily offered to move on to the highstreet where there are benches and slightly more sun. I see no reason to squabble, or get stressed, or worry. At 9am, Cheltenham is big enough for us both, and I'm very patient and chilled out about the whole thing.





"Ooh, well, I get to play harp in the sun, it's OK if it's not a great spot"
"I'd enjoy playing too, if it wasn't my only means of income."

I guess I am quite lucky - I'm still thoroughly enjoying busking. People wait to talk to me, they're interested in my instrument, people thank me for playing. I don't feel like a nuisance - my instrument is unobtrusive, pleasant, my repertoire is large and varied and I'm a friendly person who likes talking to people. I know a lot of their joy in listening to me isn't due to me or my playing - it's entirely the clarsach. Especially this far south, very few people have seen a clarsach in real life, so, as they keep saying, it's a 'real treat'.
I also know I'm in a position of privilege - although I'm relying on busking to get me around places if  I do get in any genuine difficulty there are people I can call on. I'm not in a desperate situation. Hopefully, due to the novelty of the instrument I play, I won't ever really have to struggle to make money from playing it. Maybe I'd view it differently if this weren't the case.

After that I bumped into the homeless man I saw yesterday. We, again, had a nice chat and I passed on the money that some other homeless people gave me for busking yesterday. I felt so uncomfortable taking it, and so it feels much better to pass it back. The sense of community really touched me, yesterday as well. So much so, I don't really want to write about it - I couldn't do it justice anyway.

So, then came the choice of where to set up. I chose a slightly quieter area of the highstreet, as there was building work occurring in the busier bit. It didn't matter anyway, I earned as much as I did yesterday in my preferential spot. I need somewhere quieter, as the harp is quiet. I already have blisters. I'll show you my exciting blisters tomorrow, after more playing.

And then it rained.

Walking back to the village through the rain was wonderful. I also spoke to my husband on the phone. It was our one year wedding anniversary yesterday - and I spent that day totally ignoring him. Happy love-day, husband! For yesterday!

Oh right, I totally haven't even told him I'm writing this yet. What a nawty wife. I'll stick to harps, I think.










Earnt: £87 *
Spent: £10.40 (coffee with Alex was well worth it, though)
Remaining: £76.60
Time spent playing: 5.5 hours

*I'm refusing to say how much I gave the man. So, it's just been discounted from my 'earnings'.

Cheltenham & Stroud

(The Hare and the Minotaur did not give me any money. What fascists!)






The weather is having some insane fit, at the moment. Do you know what's happening? No, I don't. Luckily, I found a nice spot in Cheltenham promenade and spoke to some lovely people and didn't get too wet.

People are much cheerier at 9am than I expected. And, also, everyone seems really excited by the Clarsach. I think I've got a bit de-sensitised to it from living up in Scotland - but I love talking to people so I was happy.

So, I ended up in Stroud, and I'm currently abusing the hospitality of my wonderful friend Cinders & her family. She dragged me into the city centre (£3.40 return) and then I did busking, and soup (£4), and busking.

Stroud has the most lovely people. Not only were people donating towards my travels, I had people run up to me after I was done to say how wonderful it was.

Stroud also has the most interesting people. I had someone ask me to ramp up the harp and do some metal (I should really learn some) and a harpist come to chat and small children come to play and a recording person and someone who tells stories.

I'm exhausted. I have blisters on my fingers already due to having to play so loud to get heard over street noise. One of my strings has snapped (drat, I didn't bring any spares) and I'm using something from a drumkit instead of a tuning key.
Also, I need to learn some new songs - I have about an hour's worth of material by memory, but I'd rather have 1.5-2 as that's what I can comfortably play in a session. I didn't think repeating music would matter, but in every busking session today people have sat on benches for a very long time and watched.










Earnt: £67
Spent:£7 (the soup was very tasty, though)
Remaining: £60
Time spent playing: 4 hours

Please forgive the quality. As you can see it's very windy. Also, it's on its side. But, you get the idea.
('I should hurry along', traditional, Stroud)

A beginning.

Well, what is this blog about?

I'm a harper from Edinburgh, and I want to run away. With my harp. SO I SHALL!

This is a wee documenty thing to ... document ... my travels around the UK. Mostly for my entertainment and memory (long live google-cache!) but also to soothe the aching hearts of those who fret for my random wanderings across the earth. With an instrument bigger than me.

Let me tell you about myself!
I'm Sam. Nice to meet you. I play the Clarsach, mainly, a Scottish-Harp (about 4ft tall, 7 pounds, but becomes very tedious to carry) which is beautiful but very weather-dependent. I am, however, more risky than I should be, because, well, it's me.

I love commas.
I love rules.

The rules


Take a seat, phone a loved one. These rules are binding.

1) If I don't make the money (through busking) then I don't have the money. (Obviously in exceptional circumstances I will, but they have to be more exceptional than sleeping rough and not eating.) Down & out in Paris & London, baby!

2) I'm starting in Cheltenham, because, well, I want to see the motherparental  before I embark on ridiculosity.

3) I may not have planned much/any of this. It will only add to the hilarity.


So, here it is. My bizarre month roaming the country with a harp.
Godspeed!