Way back in the day after I finished uni I signed on the dole while I figured out what I wanted to do, nine quid a week if I remember rightly.
I was already playing guitar to a good standard but hadn't yet joined a band but was getting more involved in the traditional music scene playing mandolin. A mate of mine had bought a tenor banjo (same tuning as mandolin but sounded way better and I really wanted one). Giro day would see me paying dig money for the week leaving me with three quid to amuse myself with so I'd head into Glasgow and wander around the music and record shops. One day browsing around McCormacks's music shop I saw a second hand tenor banjo for sale for fifty five quid, might as well have been fifty five thousand. I had a play and it was excellent and worth way more than they were asking for it, handing it back I said to the sales guy I'll have a think about it (he thought tyre kicker).
I left the shop disappointed knowing I'd never be able to afford it. I walked round the corner and as I was passing a bookie's shop I saw ahead lying on the street what looked like a folded up ten pound note and people were walking past it without taking any notice, heart pounding at such wealth I picked it up and noticed it was a bundle of tenners, I discretely counted it - sixty quid!
It didn't take long to figure out what to do, it was outside a bookie's so someone was going in or out of the place and dropped it so guilt aside I thought fair game.
Back to the music shop and bought the banjo, do you want a case to go with that says the sales guy? No thanks, couldn't afford the £40 for a hard case just wrap it in a bin bag. Now, I knew the banjo was worth more than what they were asking and was sure someone had made a mistake so as the guy is scrutinising the sales ticket and some kind of notebook I'm just trying to get out of the shop in case he spots something wrong. As I'm leaving the shop he catches up with me, there's a mistake he says it comes with a hard case - result!
About that time the dole money gets cut off because of some technicality or other just after I'd moved into a bedsit so there I am no income and rent money due never mind being able to buy food. At the suggestion of one of the other guys in the bedsit who busked I decided I had no other option so hit the streets of Glasgow with the banjo even although I only knew a couple of tunes. He used to make three or four quid in a day which was fine, rent was fifteen a week so busking every day would get the rent paid, food and beers.
After walking up and down Sauchiehall Street for an hour I plucked up the courage to start playing, the nerves went as soon as people started dropping money into the open banjo case. I played for two hours and thought I'd better count the dosh as I couldn't see the bottom of the case - forty three quid not counting the coppers, jeez I couldn't believe it so party time that night.
That became the job seven days a week and since I had so much exposure on the streets I'd be approached by other musicians and before long was playing in a band thus trebling my income, it was easy to make the decision to become a pro musician. It also led to the start of the IT career but that's another story.
So, finding some money in the street quickly led to a major life change and ultimately the successful career I've had in IT.
I was already playing guitar to a good standard but hadn't yet joined a band but was getting more involved in the traditional music scene playing mandolin. A mate of mine had bought a tenor banjo (same tuning as mandolin but sounded way better and I really wanted one). Giro day would see me paying dig money for the week leaving me with three quid to amuse myself with so I'd head into Glasgow and wander around the music and record shops. One day browsing around McCormacks's music shop I saw a second hand tenor banjo for sale for fifty five quid, might as well have been fifty five thousand. I had a play and it was excellent and worth way more than they were asking for it, handing it back I said to the sales guy I'll have a think about it (he thought tyre kicker).
I left the shop disappointed knowing I'd never be able to afford it. I walked round the corner and as I was passing a bookie's shop I saw ahead lying on the street what looked like a folded up ten pound note and people were walking past it without taking any notice, heart pounding at such wealth I picked it up and noticed it was a bundle of tenners, I discretely counted it - sixty quid!
It didn't take long to figure out what to do, it was outside a bookie's so someone was going in or out of the place and dropped it so guilt aside I thought fair game.
Back to the music shop and bought the banjo, do you want a case to go with that says the sales guy? No thanks, couldn't afford the £40 for a hard case just wrap it in a bin bag. Now, I knew the banjo was worth more than what they were asking and was sure someone had made a mistake so as the guy is scrutinising the sales ticket and some kind of notebook I'm just trying to get out of the shop in case he spots something wrong. As I'm leaving the shop he catches up with me, there's a mistake he says it comes with a hard case - result!
About that time the dole money gets cut off because of some technicality or other just after I'd moved into a bedsit so there I am no income and rent money due never mind being able to buy food. At the suggestion of one of the other guys in the bedsit who busked I decided I had no other option so hit the streets of Glasgow with the banjo even although I only knew a couple of tunes. He used to make three or four quid in a day which was fine, rent was fifteen a week so busking every day would get the rent paid, food and beers.
After walking up and down Sauchiehall Street for an hour I plucked up the courage to start playing, the nerves went as soon as people started dropping money into the open banjo case. I played for two hours and thought I'd better count the dosh as I couldn't see the bottom of the case - forty three quid not counting the coppers, jeez I couldn't believe it so party time that night.
That became the job seven days a week and since I had so much exposure on the streets I'd be approached by other musicians and before long was playing in a band thus trebling my income, it was easy to make the decision to become a pro musician. It also led to the start of the IT career but that's another story.
So, finding some money in the street quickly led to a major life change and ultimately the successful career I've had in IT.
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