I went to bed at 1AM, and read Charlie And The Chocolate Factory which I'd read long ago so it was a quick read but still was an hour. Its author, Roald Dahl, grew up middle-class (back when middle-class was really something; we'd call it upper-middle-class now) and grew up to be something like 6'4" so he never got near the nutritional stunting I experienced growing up (and that I've seen in people who grew up in the 30s/40s) but the English public schools he went to certainly didn't overfeed their pupils, plus in the war he'd have been around people who certainly did come from real hunger, so I believe he understood hunger. All the parts in the book about the candies and especially Charlie finding the $1 bill in the street and getting a chocolate bar right away, felt like I'd just read it the day before but actually the memory is stronger than that, because I read it as a very hungry kid. It's a very good book and now I can return it to one of the Little Free Libraries.
I left here a bit after 3 I think, dropped off a bag of trash at my usual nondescript trash can, then went to Nijiya for a couple of things, then followed the route I'd worked out for myself to go to Ryland Park. There was a crazy guy doing something with one shoe off, ranting to himself and jigging around. Whatever, dude. I rode past him to the back part where the exercise equipment is and found that both sets have chin-up bars that are way too high up for me. The one in St. James Park is just right, and the ones at the Civic Center and my other place at least have these step things to get up there. Oh, well. It's a nice park anyway.
Riding around, things were so dead I could only compare it to when everything shut down for covid at first when people were really serious about it. Almost no one was out and around.
I rode over to Christmas In The Park which had tons of people, though, and stopped by the caricature stand. They said it's been a bit slow, but OK. The actual company name is Damon Arts, but the guy I was talking to said (pointing) "That's Damon, I'm (something like) rizzle-tizzle-tazzle-fo'shizzle-no.1@gmail.... " I just looked online now and Damon Arts is a very serious company and Damon has certainly paid his dues.
From there I rode over to San Pedro Square and again, it was like the neutron bomb had gone off. No biggie, though, as I intended to play at Whole Foods as they're closed tomorrow. Today's my chance to at least play there close to Christmas Day.
I parked the bike at WF and it looked moderately busy. There was a guy with a "Save The Children" booth, a pudgy guy who looked like Charlie Brown would all grown up, and fat all over not just his head. I went in to use the loo and came back out and talked in a friendly way with the guy while I set up. It didn't bode well, having the stand there because generally it means tips will be way down for both of us. To start I asked how late he planned to be there and he said until 9, and I said that's dedication, as Whole Foods will close at 7.
He said he didn't know that, and "7 then." but now I knew he was there for the long haul and it would be "just the two of us" (it could be a lot worse!) and set up to play. Warmed up with some scales, and started in, and between tunes talked with the guy about inconsequential things.
It went OK, I played a lot of Xmas songs and I guess charmed some people because tips *did* come in. There was a bum set up with a sign in the actual parking lot, at the front of the center "island" with a sign. At one point this Orwellian loudspeaker voice came on, and the guy left. So someone complained or an employee saw him or something. And if the guy had just set up where I did, on the public sidewalk, he'd have been fine.
It was very cold, and I'm certain some of my tips came from people due to their liking the *idea* of a trumpeter playing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve, but a lot of people were pretty happy with me.
I toughed it out for an hour and a half, but frankly after an hour I started sounding like a duck. When I was finally done, half-frozen and had fumbled through my "Goodnight!" song, I told Fatso at his booth that "I sound like a duck, and no one wants to hear a duck." In other words, it's all his for the last hour and let him make up for the tips he lost out on, being next to me.
I went inside, just happy to be somewhere warm, and got myself some very greasy, really swimming in fat, chicken at the hot bar and a near-beer. That was $11 of the money I'd earned yesterday. That's my rule, to not spend the money I make until the next day so I can make sure of an accurate count when I get home.
I ate and drank upstairs where there are heaters. There were only 5 or 6 people up there besides staff and myself. After eating I rode home, by way of San Pedro Square to see how it was and it was still super dead. And there was hardly any traffic on my way home too.
Once home, I counted up and it was $85. No more than $10 of that was made in the last half-hour so $75/hour is pretty good.
There were a lot of the usual homeless out there and for them it's just another day. Without busking it would be pretty much another day for me, too. A bother, because the post office and most things are closed, and maybe, as many feel it to be, depressing. But because of busking, it's a fun time of year.
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