Lulu has different imperatives to you or I. She needs to preserve her voice for singing, and as she embarks on her farewell tour at the age of 75 she’s shared her methods: she doesn’t talk at all until noon. She stays in her room, she says, which makes it easier. I like to think of her doing all that in a silk eye mask.
I also wonder whether there’s a wider life lesson here. I’ve nothing to conserve, vocally, but it’s possible my compadres could use a little peace and quiet. The longest I’ve ever stayed silent before was when I had a colleague who was a gambler. He liked to be accompanied to William Hill but said it curdled his luck if we talked. So regularly a bunch of us would have to spend maybe three and a half minutes in total silence. I always came out of there feeling physically sick. But that was the 90s, and I’m wiser and more peaceful now.
