busker

Deflecting the Yeti

Can't fight witty hall. I'll have to start a new blog devoted solely to choice xtracts from MB, save my overseas readers whingeing about having to sift thru Holmes dross to find l'or baldwinien.

the No sooner do I submit my 'prison visitors' trick of the trade to that rather-clever-boots Master Matthew Baldwin than I realise what he was really after. I should have chosen my other profession as street entertainer:

• Start with, and maintain, a goodly (and representative) float - but not TOO goodly - of local notes and coins as well as foreign stuff. This will encourage folks to give from both ends of the scale and allow visitors to see that you also accept coinage of foreign realms. After all, it all adds up.
• Always thank the punters as the coin hits the receptacle; this signals to other potential donors that you are a good sort.
• On appearance of the Law, allow to approach within 20 paces and then cease your caterwauling and stand in respectful silence. This will hugely please the citizenry, to see their tax dollars are at work, will give face to the Fuzz, and possibly save you a trip down the Nick.
• Wherever possible, stand away from your collection box so that you glimpse neither the widow's mite nor the generous sucker's note but thanks all equally enthusiastically.
• Lighten the ambience with display material. My most successful showcard read "Too proud to sponge off parents".