Last weekend, on one of the hottest days of the year (highs of 33°), a group of us Phoenixes found the time in our hectic summer schedules to head into town and do some singing. (No matter how busy life is, there’s always time for music, right!?:))
First stop was Tesco, which was bursting with families doing their weekly shop at the height of the summer holidays. We placed ourselves by the entrance, which provided a welcome breeze. It was lovely singing well-known songs such as ‘Lean on Me’, a medley from Grease, and ‘Stand By Me’, and to see shoppers grooving in the background, and, often, stop to watch us. Here’s hoping we brightened up people’s days.
It seemed as though Kris’s piano was feeling the effects of the heat wave too, for it kept going on strike, and doing its own thing. Perhaps it was crying out for an ice cream – I’m not sure a cold dip would have done it any favours. Thankfully, it behaved itself when we did our ‘Best of Bond’ medley, where its accompaniment is kind of essential for keeping us on track!
It was a pleasure to sing in Tesco again, particularly as we were supported by such an enthusiastic team. Thanks especially to Jan, the Community Champion. We look forward to singing with you again.
After saying our goodbyes, we headed out into the bake oven and onto Princes Street. It was lovely and cool in the Emporium (and I’m racking my brains as to why I haven’t been there before, considering it’s full of so intriguing nooks and crannies, and vintage ware aplenty.)
We all had time for a little relaxation in the Emporium’s café with a refreshing and a scrummy slice of cake. Alex kept us entertained with a snapshot he had on his phone of a sign he had seen in a bakery recently. It read: “Please use tongues to pick up pastries.”…Well! – luckily the height of Covid has now passed, if that’s the new technique for purchasing a pie. As it is, few of us are equipped with tongues long enough to follow these instructions. (Presumably, lizards buy their lunches in this way?)
We then got down to using our tongues and phoenix voices in a way we’re much more familiar with! We had a select but lovely audience in the café, and one gentleman took the trouble of telling us in person how much he had loved our rendition of ‘Fields of Gold.’ This spurred us on to sing our last few songs, before having another well-earned drink. Many of us stayed on for a nice chat, before heading back out into the heat. Many thanks to the Emporium. We await with eager anticipation coming to sing more songs with you (and to sample more cake!)
Thank you so much to everyone who took the trouble to watch us sing today. After a very enjoyable day, our total takings came to an incredible £62.50! Whoopee – or should I say “Shoo-bop, sha wad a wada yippity boom-de-boom!” Liv