all hands to the pump

Friday 21st July 2006

2:50 p.m. CET Had yet another good night last night. I was generally a lot busier than usual, what with the Ent’s manager James being away, and there being nearly a full ship’s worth of passengers on-board. As part of my stand-in duties I had to do the P.A. announcement at 6:30 which was a little nerve-wracking but it went very well. After my seven o’clock stint I was selling Bingo tickets in the show lounge (where I managed to drum up plenty of interest despite never having done it before!), and I didn’t have time to prepare for my first vocal set at nine, so I just did it purely off-the-cuff and it worked well. During my break I just had time to throw a few lyric sheets together, and I played all the dead-certs during what I regard as my main set (at 10 o’clock) since this is when the bar tends to be busiest – Brown Eyed Girl, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Piano Man, to name a few. Was met with a very warm reception from an almost capacity audience – the first since I started here. The French people who had been on last Thursday, were there again (on their way back home), and they remembered me and sat right next to the piano as before, which helped to keep my spirit high. There were a few more than last time, including one guy who complimented me in French at the end of the night, which was a great encouragement. It’s these sorts of things that are not only good for my morale, but also act as confirmation that I am doing the right thing by being here.

I also did some live DJ-ing single-handed last night which is another thing I have never done before. Went very well.

Julian began another contract on Monday, aboard the Pride of Hull, which is one of the larger boats deployed a few years ago, whose route is between Hull and Rotterdam (the route I was working seven years ago). Unfortunately he is on the opposite sailing pattern to me, but that may change again in the future, which would be good as it would mean I would get to see him every other day when our boats are both in.

Apparently it should be a lot quieter tonight, so hopefully won’t be quite as physically demanding!