Runkulele

Running 200 miles from london to Manchester, with a ukulele, busking Christmas songs

London to Manchester, 2012

Sadly, this story starts with a boy. And not a nice boy either. Basically, I got dumped! Aye caramba, whip out those violins please, thanks!

Having gone to visit my boyfriend who was travelling around Hawaii, I ended up spending the final part of my trip crying into the arms of a bunch of 18-year old girls I'd met in a hostel. They took me drinking and pushed me out of a plane (with a parachute) to help soothe my wounded heart. I also bought a ukulele as I didn't want to leave the island on a bad note and ukuleles descend from Hawaii. Although, due to my budget, I got the cheapest in the shop, which subsequently hailed from China. The problem was, I couldn't play it.

When I got home, I needed to clear my head, so I went for a long run, to see a friend in Manchester, 200 miles from London. I strapped my new little guitar onto my back, listening to ukulele sounding music as i ran, and then i practiced at night. The plan was to busk when i got there to earn my train ticket home. However, the local BBC radio caught wind of this musical running jaunt, and called me up each night asking me to play AND sing them a song.

Now, as I mentioned, I couldn't play, nor sing, so each day I had to recruit a band to help drown me out, which turned out to be quite the adventure in itself.

Get in touch if you’d like to hear more or to hear me sing and play the ukulele. Actually, don'‘t ask me to do the latter. I'm still terrible.