HERE COMES THE SUN: LET THE BUSKING BEGIN!

+13 DEGREES 

WINDLESS & SUNNY

It was the perfect Saturday for busking.  I was in costume, cap-a-pie, a black TRIPP shirt with florescent green trim (Madame Yes), shredded Tommy Hilfiger jeans (gift from NHL scout, Brad Hornung), Dr. Martens (air wairs with bouncing soles).  Yes, I was the fashion icon for two hours in the Value Village parking lot, thrumming my twelve-string whilst playing hard on my harpoon. 

My very first consumer … Hank’s Potatoes! I had not seen Hank since last fall.  Even before the handshake, Hank had rolled up his right pant leg to show me his knee. Octogenarian Hank, a retired heavy hauler, has been delivering potatoes to several restaurants in and around Regina for the past fifteen years.

I just got out yesterday.  I was in the hospital for 32 days getting my new knee.  I’m back at work but I’m not doing any heavy lifting. 

The noon sun was hot, hot (fact: 5500 C degrees on the surface), and so was my buskspot hot at the Value Village front entrance.

Emma, from Island Lunch, saved the day.  With her ever present smile, Emma graciously served gratis, an ice cold Pepsi and a bottled water.  (I love Emma!)

More sun facts: 

• In Ancient Times, people believed the sun to be a big ball of fire and … and they were right.

• The distance from Sol to Earth is 93,000,000 miles. When it eventually burns itself out, it’ll take 81/2 minutes for the Earthlings to realize that our sun is kaput.

• (Save for vampires) we, sea-monkeys, swards, and other living stuffs, are all brothers and sisters under the sun.

• The sunnier the day, the more munificent the consumer.

Here Comes the Sun, my blog title for today, was inspired for three reasons.  First, this Canadian winter has gone on forever and this was our first sunshine day. Second, Paul McCartney is coming to Regina -- Here Comes the Sun was included in the early Beatles’ Abbey Road album, 1969. And the third reason …

• Fact:  Astronomer, Carl Sagan, formally requested this song, Here Comes the Sun, to be included in the Voyager space mission probe (1977), as a representative sample of human civilization.  He was declined.

I’ve just two characters marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week. 

• Bad Guy: The new manager at the 13^th Avenue SAFEWAY in the Cathedral Area, Regina, Saskatchewan, who mordantly stated: 

I’ve contacted the District Office and they have decided that you are a security and safety concern.  I’m very sorry to say that YOU CANNOT BUSK ON OR NEAR OUR PREMISES.

(Annotation:  Methinks the nefarious, namby-pamby new SAFEWAY manager is a FIBBER.  I am one to pettifog … a la wordswords.)

• Good Guy:  Greg, the liquor store busker on Broadway Avenue, who humbly stated:

Ya, my dad has prostate cancer so I’m here for the duration.  I’m trying to get some original tunes together for an album a buddy and me are workin’ on.  Two dolls down at O’Hanlon’s ripped me off for 25 dollars out of my guitar case the other night.  I thought they were putting money in!

(Annotation:  Methinks the all-weather warrior busker is a TRUTH-TELLER.  Though ‘twas a chilly and windy day, his words inspired a particular munificence on my part.)

I tossed a toonie into Greg’s guitar case, along with a can of GREAT WESTERN ORIGINAL 16, DOUBLE AGED CANADIAN COPPER ALE.

Closing this particular essay, as a (self-certified) BUSKOLOGIST …

I am pronouncing that this blog has had 25,382 hits from a readership of 11,738 visitors, stretching across 145 different countries to date.  Considering there are just 195 countries on our planet (give or take), this is, indeed, a chevron I sport with pride.

DEAR READERS, THANK-YOU!  THANK-YOU!  THANK-YOU!