When Miriam, my trusty Web Host, told me that we’d passed the ten-year mark I was happy and slightly amazed.
‘I have the Domain name,’ I emailed to a son ten years ago – a slightly exaggerated statement because it was Miriam who’d organised that.
I chose the title because Wednesday is my favourite day of the week and Busk because it seemed a more theatrical term than blog. I always admire buskers. I remember seeing and listening to them on Cuba Mall and down Courtney Place, sometimes on Main Street Otaki or at the side of the library in Waikanae and like to stop and listen for a while, sometimes request a particular song while I slip some coins into the hat.
Back in the day I shouted on corners and sang while we marched and quite often ended with a song on the lawn outside parliament but the purpose was different. Someone who busks does it alone, lays themself on the line – their purpose might be to entertain or present a certain view, to get some money for food, sometimes a mixture of all. They stand or sit on their own. Its their voice, their singing ability, their skills on a guitar perhaps or a Guzheng (skiffle), their voice that might make people stop, listen, contribute, smile, walk on. Busking has an expectation of short term interest, you need to pare the words down to the most important, repeat them, be ready to answer back if someone shouts a critical comment at you or give a smile and a nod to those who agree or even, sometimes, clap. There’s always the chance that someone will totally disagree and that’s their right so you just have to put that down to experience, smile and walk away. The Busk however is different. Readers know who I am so there’s no walking away when they disagree. Being online means that you get a percentage of idiots too and I quickly send them off into the ether.
A weekly Busk should amuse or inform (hopefully both), make someone think about a subject they might not have thought about before perhaps? Readers come and go but often stay probably because I stick it up on my FB page. There’s an expectation from me, Miriam and possibly you, the reader, that it will keep going.
WednesdayBusk has appeared in the same place each Wednesday. It has an annual holiday then resumes in March. Its covered all sorts of topics, some general, some personal, some political, some just for fun.
Ten years, a decade, is not really a very long time and looking back it has gone in a whisk. I was 83 and now I’m 93. In these ten years I ‘ve had a major op and some minor and one major setback. I was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration, told that I would never go completely blind, I would be able to see large shapes. No-one said anything about not being able to properly see people’s faces, go up steps, walk into a hall. Thankfully I have good friends who see me through these obstacles. I decided to hell with being 92 and bought a brand new computer with a 29inch screen. Miriam set it up with large black print. It works beautifully but that verdict on my eyesight is a constant grief and a daily reminder that one day I will have to swap from print to audible. Rose taught me to read when I was four and I have been a voracious reader ever since. Listening to a book being read is a totally different experience but one I will have to get used to. Losing my sight is a major.
However, I’ve kept working, a memoir published by Makaro Press and two crime novels published by The Cuba Press, a few essays, one or two short stories, and WednesdayBusk has marched on.
I’m aware that still having a working brain is a great piece of luck and if I have a few aches, pains and other bodily annoyances then that’s just balancing things out. ‘Old age is not for sissies’ a good friend said to me some years ago and she was/is right.
WednesdayBusk, judging from feedback, has amused, entertained, irritated and informed readers. I have never looked up the number of readers because if its only one then that’s fine.
To Miriam, who, when I couldn’t see well enough any more to do the weekly online set up, offered to do it for me. So now I write the Busk, email it to Miriam and she does the rest. A huge thank you, Miriam.
To you who have come along for the long haui, thank you. Thanks for your interest, your messages on FB or occasionally by email, thanks for being there. Nga mihi mahana koutou.
Arohanui
Renée
