One Sunday while enjoying a quiet wander through the city centre of Wakefield with my wife, our ears were suddenly assaulted by the sound of loud screaming and wailing.
Concerned that someone was being mugged, we quickly spun round to see if we could offer assistance only to be greeted by the sight of a pensioner using a karaoke microphone and speaker system belting out ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ by Britney Spears.
This was a male pensioner I may add.
Fortunately for the people of Wakefield, he was not wearing a school girl’s uniform like Britney does in the music video.
It Was Terrible
If you have ever seen Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s Club Singer sketch from Shooting Stars, it was like that… but worse.
To refresh your memory or if you have never seen it before, here’s a video of the Club Singer sketch:
Imagine the Club Singer trying to sing while being beaten by a gang of youths with bricks.
It Was THAT Bad!
At one point the wife turned to me and said ‘Go give him a few pounds.’
I said ‘I’m not paying for that, he’s rubbish!’
She replied with, ‘It’s to shut him up! Give him a few pounds and ask him to stop.’
As we stood there cringing to the off key wailing our ears were being forced to listen to, I couldn’t help but wonder why he was stood in the city centre crooning songs by bands like Madness and Britney Spears.
I’m sure there were many more artists he was covering but either I couldn’t work out what he was singing, or my mind has buried the memories to protect my sanity.
It might be that he enjoys singing and wants to share his ‘gift’ with the world…
It might be that he has an ego issue and craves attention and admiration…
But the fact that he had a hat laid out to collect donations tells me otherwise.
Here is a man who is in his late 60s, possibly early 70s, stood in a city centre on a Sunday trying to earn some extra money to supplement his pension.
Uncertain Times Ahead!
With rising energy costs and council tax hikes, many people are facing uncertain times, especially many of the older generations.
I am not going to knock him for trying. I admire the fact that he decided not to simply ‘beg’ for money and instead wanted to ‘exchange’ money for something which he was doing.
He chose to entertain people – if you can call it that – and earn his money.
That itself has to be applauded.
It is a very courageous thing he was doing… I just hope that he didn’t actually mind doing it.
For many people, having to stand up in front of complete strangers and do something which they are not comfortable doing or not good at, can be painful as well as undignified.
Putting aside that this old guy was bad at singing and was inflicting more pain than pleasure on the poor people of Wakefield, I believe life has forced him to stand on the streets singing for money just so that he can make life a little more bearable.
That Is Not Good
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To be living your twilight years in fear of not being able to afford to simply exist is no fun at all. It is something to be avoided at all costs.
It Can Be Prevented…
Or at the very worse, there are ways where you can supplement your pension without having to stand out in the cold and rain for several hours being ridiculed by teenagers for a few pounds.
I can’t imagine he went home with more than enough to buy a coffee or two. He certainly wasn’t going home with a pocket full of notes.
I imagine that this old guy doesn’t know what is possible today and decided to try and make some extra money the only way he knew how… standing in the street shouting.
There Is No Need To Suffer The Indignity
Had he known what was possible today, he could have been making money from the comfort of his own home without suffering the cold or embarrassment.
As an example, he could use a website like Fiverr and get paid £4 (£5 minus £1 fee) for writing simple 300 – 500 word articles.
Many writers charge more.
I don’t know how good he is as a writer or whether he has a decent laptop, tablet or smartphone, but the people who are paying £5 for an article are not looking for the best quality.
I personally believe that most people could earn more in a day writing for Fiverr clients than they can belting out karaoke versions of cheesy pop songs in city centres.
If offering a service such as writing and proofreading is not for you, then there are plenty of ways to make money using just your phone.
One such way is to scalp money from sporting events or the financial markets.
Our friend Kate, the treadmill tycoon, is a scalper. She uses her phone to scalp profits from the markets each morning.
Kate trades for roughly half an hour most mornings while she works out in her home gym and earns between £1,250 and £1,500 per month.
That’s got to be a lot better than being forced to sing for your super on a cold street each Sunday hasn’t it?
I thinks so anyway.
To learn more about Kate and what she does to generate up to £1,500 per month, go to
www.TreadmillTrader.co.uk
Kind Regards.
John Harrison
PS… Did I mention the £1,250 – £1,500 per month Kate earns is TAX FREE?
Here’s that link again: