'Such a charmer'

We've just been busking on the rain sodden streets of Birmingham for charity. Busking, and raising money generally, is all about picking the right people to approach and then hitting them with enough charm so that they're willing to part with their recession endangered cash but not so much as to make them want to punch you and steal the money you had made thus-far; it's a delicate balance. Fortunately I'd done a spot of fundraising before so I think I was reasonably competent today. One guy did threaten me that if I approached his girlfriend with my philanthropic pursuits her father (the Chief Commander of the Birmingham Police - allegedly) would have me thrown in the slammer - my words not his, people don't use prison slang enough anymore. However this was tempered by the young banker-type who (in a time when the security of his livelyhood is arguably at its most precarious) gave me £4 and a warm handshake, the banker's equivalent of a loving embrace. All told, a good morning I think; our group made £41.88 in an hour.