After spending an hour on the train to south Kensington standing up all the way, I got off and went up the escalator. Whilst I was walking through the ticket gate I was wondering what sort of people I would see today. Would there be the usual ‘Big Issue’ guy by the entrance who shouts “Big Issue” all day! Or would there be some drunk in my spot. When I got into the subway I was just thinking to myself that there would be someone else wanting to busk instead of me, but to my surprise there was just the usual big issue guy at the end of the tunnel. I set my self up by the middle natural history entrance out of the subway so I wouldn’t be disturbed by the big issue man. The tunnel was reasonably quiet in the mornings with the odd person walking up or down, carrying a heavy briefcase, and whistling some random or annoying tune on their way to work. The stench of urine reeked all the way down the tunnel when the wind blew down one of the entrances and there was a constant flicker from the lights above which needed replacing.
It was still pretty early and there weren’t many people about but I still got out my French horn, warmed up and started with some Mozart. The morning rush hour of people going to work was beginning to start now and I was beginning to collect a bit of money. The sort of people who usual gave me money surprisingly aren’t the rich people who have lots of money to give away, but are the people who are in more or less the same position as me.
Then a Chinese man set himself up next to me and sat there making wire models and selling Chinese prints. I tried to have a conversation with him but he didn’t really speak any English so he just sat there listening to me with a wide grin on his face looking bored out of his mind making models.
I watched as I saw the snobbish first year students carrying their instruments to the Royal College of Music. I thought to myself if only they knew how hard it is out there, as a student carrying a violin tripped clumsily over my feet and gave me a filthy look as if I was a ‘cast-off’. This sort of person made me feel really angry as they walked about flashing their expensive mobile phones, and with their greasy brushed back slick hair, and expensive suits. They don’t care about any other member of the public because they think they are far more important than anyone else!
As usual the alcoholics roll into the subway after getting up late and sit there on the cold floor saying “Can you spare any change please”, just to get money so that they can buy more booze! At the end of each day the drunks would all gather up and share the money out for the booze. Sometimes I think I would be better off joining them but then again would I like to sink as low as them and not have a home at all?
When the trains go past the noise is so loud that I have to play until my face is purple to make myself heard above the noise. Women with children rush down and push past to join the queue for the science museum tickets. Spoilt little brats whinging for their dummies or shouting out ‘but I want one now’ or as little children walk about spilling their bottle contents all over the floor.
It was about one o’clock now I was getting tired so I stopped for a break. The tunnel was quite empty now and only the odd couple of people would walk down every now and again. Then suddenly completely out of the blue, four ‘rough’ looking teenagers ran down the tunnel, from either end. As they were coming closer and closer my heart beated faster and faster and I was sweating with fear. I shut my eyes as I could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer. Then the footsteps abruptly stopped and I could hear the four of them whispering in front of me. I was shaking with dread that they were going to hurt me. Then I heard them run away just as they came. That’s strange, I thought, they haven’t done anything. So I opened my eyes and looked down the tunnel for them but they had vanished completely out of site. Then I looked down and all of my money out of my busking hat had been taken. My heart stopped for a split second and all the wind was knocked out of me as if I had been punched in the chest. I kneeled on the ground and cried and cried banging my head on the filthy cold stone floor in despair.