"Ye Canna Go Wrong with Wallace and Gromit!"

Yesterday afternoon was my second time busking here! This time I went down to Rose St., the quaint pedestrian road parallel to the mega shopping-y Princes St. in the New Town. I chose a place that I thought wouldn't piss off store owners: facing the side of a bank (not much to look at, but I wasn't asked to leave!). It wasn't terrible out, in the low forties with a tiny bit of sun. I did get cold though after about an hour and a half, and quit.

Sunday, February 5, 2012
The main lesson of this day was that I'm going to be missing a lot of one-liners. A bunch of people commented in heavy Scottish accents, then kept walking, and I couldn't help but think that what they said may have been awesome. I miss things every time I play, but it's going to happen a lot here!

1. A guy stopped to talk, saw the American dollars in my box (I left a couple in for feed money), and asked if I'm American. When I confirmed this, he told me that he was going to go to America. "I'm going to go fishing in the Rocky Mountains within ten years!" Excellent plan!

2. The US money actually brought more attention than I expected. I assumed people would think that Americans dropped it in and wouldn't think anything of it. One guy called it "cheeky" that Americans would do that.

3. After I had set up, I realized that I had stationed myself right next to a giant loogie on the sidewalk. There was no way of avoiding stepping in it. It's a hassle to move my stuff, even a couple of inches, so the only thing to do was to avoid looking down so maybe I'd forget about it. Of course this didn't happen, and I kept checking to see how much of it was on my shoe. By the time I packed up it was almost all gone though. Ew. I realized just now that I could have stood on the other side of my box, but I'm not used to that!

4. My favorite quote ever (the title of this post) came from a young Scottish man with a heavy accent: "Ye canna go wrong with Wallace and Gromit!" Even when you're wearing gloves and you're sliding all over the place, I guess!

5. A guy jogging even stopped to drop in a coin or two! Awesome! Americans don't do that!

6. A young man came over and left me a tip. He told me that his dad was in a nearby pub. He had told the son that I had been out there in the cold for two hours, and that he should tip me. It had only been like 45 minutes, but I'll take it!

7. Something nice about Rose St. is that there are roses made of stones laid into the cobblestones. Really nice. I looked at one as I played "La Vie en Rose."

8. I had a little crowd at one point! A man brushed off the windowsill of the bank and sat and listened for many songs, whistling and clapping after each one. The next windowsill provided a seat for two young women, who videotaped my Lady Gaga medley. Already having three people makes other people linger longer than they ordinarily would have. Awesome.

9. Something nice about playing here is that my tips are all medal, since the smallest bill in regular circulation is a £5. This means that wind is no longer the threat that it is at home!

I found that my customer base yesterday was mainly people who looked like tourists in their thirties (younger than my usual average tipper). I want to try Princes St. and the Royal Mile again to find my favorite corner! I was satisfied with yesterdays take; I don't usually post what I make, but £27 in about an hour and a half is a pretty solid hourly rate. Hope that's regular!

I want to practice new songs, specifically theme songs. On the top of the queue to learn are Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Willy Wonka, Lara's Theme, and of course Bohemian Rhapsody.

I'm going to try to be really disciplined about going out most afternoons! There are always shoppers on Princes St., it's just a matter of weeding out the non-teenagers.

Now, a quick personal update:
Things are really good now! I've been here two weeks tonight, and I'm finally feeling like I've beat the initial homesickness and culture shock. I've had a few eye-opening moments reminding me that I'm actually IN the UK right now, so I have to get out and take advantage of every day!

I moved into an awesome apartment with awesome roommates. It's in a nice neighborhood Southeast of downtown, right by the park. There are lots of shops and restaurants and people. My roommates are super artistic and musical: two are in a band (Kaiho, look it up on facebook!), one's in grad school for poetry, and I'm not sure exactly what the fourth is studying, but he's generally really artsy. Oh, and he does stand-up comedy. These guys have been instant friends, which is super helpful. I've also been hanging out with my friend Rob from England/Wellfleet, and my Spanish friend Nacho from the hostel I stayed at. I've met two new potential friends this week: a pedi-cab driver and a folk musician who knows where to go for casual participatory folk music nights.

I won't be busking a ton quite yet because it's cold, so I'm going to try to use this time to write, learn new songs, and be a tourist and explore Scotland.

Oh, one other thing, I'm loving my small accordion more than ever! I've been playing my roommate's 48-bass a bit, and it's just so heavy and hard to navigate! I won't be getting a new one anytime soon.

Till next time, lads and lasses!