back to normal

Saturday 22nd July 2006

4:22 p.m. BST As predicted it was a lot quieter last night. It’s strange that some evenings, people are lively and don’t seem to even register that I’m sat in the room playing, and other times like last night, the room was very quiet for most of the evening despite there being quite a few people there. One thing that I certainly wasn’t expecting was one woman telling her child to be quiet during one of the vocal numbers! Got applause after every song so again it was a bit like a performance. It’s good that it isn’t like that all the time though.

Despite the oppressive weather I went for a walk this afternoon, and managed to find a few shops and a post office just down the road from the terminal, which is good as it means I don’t have to go into town every time I need to pick up a few bits and pieces.

Another very busy evening on the cards, but James returns tonight so we’re back to normal again.

Sunday 23rd July 2006

6:03 p.m. Last night was extremely busy again, however, custom in the piano lounge was fairly steady all night. Just before my third set, I let the son of one of the passengers have a go, he was only a young lad but he played very well. Then later on during my last break an older guy helped himself and played a few numbers, but I just sat and listened and he was actually pretty good too. Plus the added benefit of cutting down my set times!

Went to the beach at Zeebrugge this afternoon with the rest of the entertainment gang. Had a few drinks (mine were non-alcoholic again) and I took a walk down to the sea and had a wade. This morning it had been grey and overcast, but was lovely weather this afternoon, very warm but not unbearably hot, and a nice cool sea breeze.

When we got back I finally admitted defeat and went to do some washing as I had been putting it off since I got here!

As for tonight, I hope it goes slightly more smoothly than last Sunday evening did! Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I arrived, and I am still enjoying it (mostly!) and getting on well. Today James reiterated that he wanted to get me back on this ship after my break. But we’ll have to wait and see what Live Business have got lined up for me. I’m going to ring Pete tomorrow and see what the score is.