Thursday 23 May 2013

May 22, 2013

Today, at the beginning of my set by the Gastown souvenir shops, an old grandpa played one of the classic, yet always amusing, grandpa tricks on me. The "trick" is basically to walk by me while I'm playing and smile and show that you're heartily enjoying the music, then keep walking a ways up the block, leaving me perhaps a little disappointed that I haven't received a donation (though I always try not to show it), before subtly tossing a coin into my case and flashing a grin or a wink then heading on your way. Grandpas will often play this trick on me in the metro in Montreal, and it gets me every time. For some reason it is only mischievous old men who play this trick, I've never seen it attempted by a member of another demographic. My guess is that this is because grandpas know they are the only people who can pull this sort of thing off and seem suave and cute, rather than simply seeming like a cheesy show-off. Unfortunately my ukulele case is much smaller than the average busker's change receptacle, so these grandpas often miss their mark. Today was particularly tragic in this respect as I was standing at the top of a slanted alleyway, so the coin the grandpa tossed me rolled off into oblivion. At the end of my set the grandpa came back and in a thick accent (Italian, I think) asked me "did you find the ten cents?" I smiled and said yes I did thank you very much, and he lightly punched me on the arm and said that he was very tired after his big day and was excited to go home and go to sleep, then wished me a good day before continuing down Water street.

No comments:

Post a Comment