hunkpapa

There's a street in town where all the buskers hang out. Well, I'm making it sound like there's loads of them, when there's really two or three regulars. There's the indie-ish chap playing things like Verve songs on his acoustic guitar - not bad, but fairly routine sounding stuff. Then there's the two old fellas with their electric guitars, playing noodly, very trebly versions of things like 'Hotel California' and 'Apache' which I can't help but like despite how cheesy it might sound; they're great guitarists, but in a very laid back way.

This afternoon, there was someone new. I didn't really hear her clearly until I got up close, and she had such a beautiful voice - much too beautiful to be wasted on the ears of a shuffling, shopping audience in a slightly grim northern seaside town. And she was singing Christian songs. Once upon a time, that might have put me off. It still would, probably, in a more 'traditional' context - choirs and big organs, that kind of thing - that seems so dreary and droney. But her singing was so bright and soulful and joyous, and it was ace, especially 'Amazing Grace'. It made me think of something that the very excellent Eliza Carthy once said:

I don't have a religious bone in my body (and she's not talking about religious music specifically, to be fair), but I think I know where she's coming from.

Also, there was an earthquake tonight - apparently, the epicentre was near Holton cum Beckering ('tween Lincoln and Grimsby), but it was also feelable (new word) in Liverpool, which isn't all that far away from here, and I didn't feel a thing. Honestly, I feel cheated.