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)