No Voice!

In the words of Tony Bennett, “I left my voice in Radlett Centre” or maybe not.  But that is the last place I saw or rather heard my voice.  I’d like to sincerely thank the fantastic audience who stuck with me till the bitter end of the performance.  There’s a lot of the lurgy around judging by the pile of cough sweets and throat soothers people left for me at the CD stall I felt like a spurious trick or treater.

I was unable to present my weekly Radio 2 show, thankfully the wonderful Guy Barker stood in for me at very short notice.  So here we are day 4 of miserable coughing and hoarseness.  I’m grateful for all the remedies people have emailed in indeed I’m trying as many as I can.  It seems drinking lots of water is top of the list so I’m chugging as we speak, alternating room temperature with hot water and fresh chopped ginger and homemade sage tea which smells like a liquid roast dinner both are very comforting.

Now I’ve always been a huge advocate of hot water with ginger, lemon and honey, but some say that the acid in the lemon is bad for inflamed vocal folds – who knew?

I’m spooning honey and I’ve tried a few propolis or bee glue lozenges.  Propolis is very popular amongst West End singers for keeping the voice in tip top condition but I’m not sure if this is purely a preventative measure.  Another showbiz remedy is gargling with Sanderson’s Throat Specific, I’ve also heard it called paint stripper, but I’ve ordered a bottle and will report my findings.  I started gargling with dissolvable aspirin but apparently this is a real no no for singers, much better to stick to salt water or the sage tea gargle wise.

Regular listener to the show Maureen Lipman recommended fresh pineapple which contains bromelain an enzyme with anti-inflammatory properties and it’s packed with vitamin C.  This is definitely helping with pain and mood being one of my favourite foods.

One suggestion I’m trying tonight as I haven’t been sleeping which sounds wonderful is massaging the neck, throat and glands with a mixture of tea tree and lavender oil.  I’m big on recommendation and thought it only polite to pass on these pearls of wisdom. Special thanks also to the fella who shared his pack of Worthers Originals with me.