18th July, 2am
Today was a good day. I got up and went to use the Wifi in the nearby restaurant - in order to accept my new friend Maxim's friend request on Facebook, and arrange to meet him. I had to order something, and was feeling a little naughty. So I bought a waffle. Don't judge me. You'd get a waffle too. You naughty little thing. I know what's in your head. Chocolate. Always chocolate. Well you can't have any chocolate. You haven't worked hard enough for the chocolate. Go run a half marathon, then come ask me for chocolate, fatty. See what I say. I'll say no. You can't have any chocolate. You're too fat.
The waffle was pretty good. I used a little internet then went to read on the beach on my own. Been taking lots of alone time lately - when you're living with two others in such a confined space you'll see enough of eachother automatically, so it's nice to go off on your own whenever you can. At 4 I went off to meet Maxim in town. It was so very hot. So very very hot. Must have been 30 degrees...at least where we're staying is beside the beach so there's a nice breeze. In town it's just ridiculous - If you're in the sun you start sweating. Simple as that. So we walked around alot and chatted. His English wasn't perfect, but good enough, and it was nice to talk to someone new without having to have the whole half-trying-to-speak-eachothers-languages-as-neither-of-you-are-very-good-at-the-other's-language thing. Town did look much less busy than the festival period, but it didn't look too bad. Still as busy as the other cities we've been to. So when Maxim left I went for a busk. I did a little on a shop street and it went really well - gonna try that again tomorrow. Did two little stints so as not to annoy any shopowners. Nantes style. Then I went to MacDonalds.
MacDonalds isn't cheap in France. It's not really that cheap in Ireland, but we have the Eurosaver menu. They simply don't do that in France. Which makes it a pretty bad deal. I spent like 7.50 on a meal that wasn't that nice at all. For a tenner I could have gotten a lovely pizza in a restaurant in town. I know better now sure. Think if it goes well tomorrow I'll treat myself on a busk break, from the busking money. Don't tell the guys.
The point of MacDonalds is they always have free wifi. It didn't work for me though, so it was a pretty fruitless excursion. Oh well. I went back to town and found a spot to start a proper busk, at around half 8. It went great. Today was the first day I broke 50 euro in total. I dunno if that's a thing with buskers, but it was big to me. I'm hoping to average 20 euro a day in general (taking into account a day off, so 25 when working), so making double was absolutely awesome. I was on a high when I stopped. It was around 10.30 so I figured I'd check out some other street shows before going home. I've been talking to a juggling/dance group who're touring around too a bit, so I sat down with one of them and we watched it. It's cool to hang out with other buskers. Makes you feel like you're part of a sort of a club. Even though it's a club anyone can simply join. But I guess it does take something to put yourself out there, open to judgement..
I went home then. Finbar spent the evening getting his advertising graffiti canvas ready, so hopefully he'll be able to bring in something tomorrow. Dara tried to find a nice traffic light set but there were none good enough. Wish he had brought the amp in and tried to busk a little though. Personally, I'd be happy if we all just did 2-3 hours busking a day, then no matter what money you bring in it's okay. Or if you don't want to busk you do 2-3 hours work on the van, or some other project which benefits us all. If it doesn't change by Toulouse I'm definitely going to ask the guys for this, or to sort of each put 10 euro in for groceries/campsite each day, then any money we make after that is our own. I could have gone out/eaten out every day in La Rochelle so far if I'd kept the money. Fine if it averages out eventually, but if it doesn't it seems terribly unfair. Luckily they're my best friends, so I'm sure they'll understand. I'm only not bringing it up yet as I don't want to be pushy or create tension. I can do 10 more days of this - it aint so bad. And if it fixes itself by then, perfect :)
19th July, 2pm
Last night was great. Drank a load of wine with Finbar in the camper, while Dara tried a little streetshow with Alex. We went in and I busked a little, Dara made 20, which was awesome, so I stopped after 40 minutes with a tenner and we went off to drink. Felt much better about everything straight away! We met the French girls and played Kings in their apartment. It was fun, though the language barrier is so tricky until you're all drunk enough! Then it was down to the beach to swim. Swimming at night is so amazing. I forget about it every time. It's just so peaceful out there....I dunno if it's just me, but does the water move less at night? Anyway, it was lovely.
Today is a day for changing all our change into real money, so I have a big bag of coins and a mission :)
Today was a good day. I got up and went to use the Wifi in the nearby restaurant - in order to accept my new friend Maxim's friend request on Facebook, and arrange to meet him. I had to order something, and was feeling a little naughty. So I bought a waffle. Don't judge me. You'd get a waffle too. You naughty little thing. I know what's in your head. Chocolate. Always chocolate. Well you can't have any chocolate. You haven't worked hard enough for the chocolate. Go run a half marathon, then come ask me for chocolate, fatty. See what I say. I'll say no. You can't have any chocolate. You're too fat.
The waffle was pretty good. I used a little internet then went to read on the beach on my own. Been taking lots of alone time lately - when you're living with two others in such a confined space you'll see enough of eachother automatically, so it's nice to go off on your own whenever you can. At 4 I went off to meet Maxim in town. It was so very hot. So very very hot. Must have been 30 degrees...at least where we're staying is beside the beach so there's a nice breeze. In town it's just ridiculous - If you're in the sun you start sweating. Simple as that. So we walked around alot and chatted. His English wasn't perfect, but good enough, and it was nice to talk to someone new without having to have the whole half-trying-to-speak-eachothers-languages-as-neither-of-you-are-very-good-at-the-other's-language thing. Town did look much less busy than the festival period, but it didn't look too bad. Still as busy as the other cities we've been to. So when Maxim left I went for a busk. I did a little on a shop street and it went really well - gonna try that again tomorrow. Did two little stints so as not to annoy any shopowners. Nantes style. Then I went to MacDonalds.
MacDonalds isn't cheap in France. It's not really that cheap in Ireland, but we have the Eurosaver menu. They simply don't do that in France. Which makes it a pretty bad deal. I spent like 7.50 on a meal that wasn't that nice at all. For a tenner I could have gotten a lovely pizza in a restaurant in town. I know better now sure. Think if it goes well tomorrow I'll treat myself on a busk break, from the busking money. Don't tell the guys.
The point of MacDonalds is they always have free wifi. It didn't work for me though, so it was a pretty fruitless excursion. Oh well. I went back to town and found a spot to start a proper busk, at around half 8. It went great. Today was the first day I broke 50 euro in total. I dunno if that's a thing with buskers, but it was big to me. I'm hoping to average 20 euro a day in general (taking into account a day off, so 25 when working), so making double was absolutely awesome. I was on a high when I stopped. It was around 10.30 so I figured I'd check out some other street shows before going home. I've been talking to a juggling/dance group who're touring around too a bit, so I sat down with one of them and we watched it. It's cool to hang out with other buskers. Makes you feel like you're part of a sort of a club. Even though it's a club anyone can simply join. But I guess it does take something to put yourself out there, open to judgement..
I went home then. Finbar spent the evening getting his advertising graffiti canvas ready, so hopefully he'll be able to bring in something tomorrow. Dara tried to find a nice traffic light set but there were none good enough. Wish he had brought the amp in and tried to busk a little though. Personally, I'd be happy if we all just did 2-3 hours busking a day, then no matter what money you bring in it's okay. Or if you don't want to busk you do 2-3 hours work on the van, or some other project which benefits us all. If it doesn't change by Toulouse I'm definitely going to ask the guys for this, or to sort of each put 10 euro in for groceries/campsite each day, then any money we make after that is our own. I could have gone out/eaten out every day in La Rochelle so far if I'd kept the money. Fine if it averages out eventually, but if it doesn't it seems terribly unfair. Luckily they're my best friends, so I'm sure they'll understand. I'm only not bringing it up yet as I don't want to be pushy or create tension. I can do 10 more days of this - it aint so bad. And if it fixes itself by then, perfect :)
19th July, 2pm
Last night was great. Drank a load of wine with Finbar in the camper, while Dara tried a little streetshow with Alex. We went in and I busked a little, Dara made 20, which was awesome, so I stopped after 40 minutes with a tenner and we went off to drink. Felt much better about everything straight away! We met the French girls and played Kings in their apartment. It was fun, though the language barrier is so tricky until you're all drunk enough! Then it was down to the beach to swim. Swimming at night is so amazing. I forget about it every time. It's just so peaceful out there....I dunno if it's just me, but does the water move less at night? Anyway, it was lovely.
Today is a day for changing all our change into real money, so I have a big bag of coins and a mission :)
I'm sure you've probably thought of it, but if ye played some music beside Finbar doing facepaints you might attract more attention. People would see you guys and have a quick look, then the kids would come over to ask about facepainting, and you guys give the parents something to do/listen to while the kids get their faces painted.
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