the two week mark

Monday 24th July 2006

12:42 a.m. BST Tonight was a bit testing. Was lacking inspiration when choosing the songs for my vocal sets, however I did decide to include a couple of new numbers which went down very well. I ended up with very little motivation as the evening drew on… … …

5:08 p.m. BST Looks like I abandoned last night’s post, seems I couldn’t even muster enough motivation to put an entry in my blog! lol

Back in Hull today, but decided not to go into town again, largely due to lack of money. Instead I spent a few hours at the internet place, getting song lyrics together, checking my e-mail etc. When I got back I had a quick chat with James in the crew mess and the good news is that they want to offer me another contract on this boat. The slight downside is that it would mean me only having three trips off (less than a week) next month, then doing another four weeks. However it would mean getting paid a bit more at the end of August, which would be good as it would mean a bit more financial security.

I’m going to clean my bathroom, then get ready for this evening.

Tuesday 25th July 2006

3:43 p.m. CET Last night went well, there was a good atmosphere in the bar and a nice receptive audience, which makes this whole thing just seem worthwhile.

Have just been out on deck reading. Is superb weather yet again here in Belgium. It seems to be consistently fine whenever we’re here.

Am now two thirds of the way through Sophie’s World. I’m enjoying it as much if not more than I did last time.

The resident band Top Secret have got another week with us starting today, then apparently a band from Bulgaria are coming on. Should be interesting!

8:01 p.m. CET Well, it has now been two weeks since I came aboard the Pride of York, and I have to say it has been a largely positive experience. In some ways it has gone really quickly, but in other ways it feels like I have been here a lot longer. This really is a different world. Being on the ship is a bit like being in the tardis: time slows down, the day of the week becomes irrelevant, you’re moving around in this big floating thing without always knowing what direction you’re going in.

Wednesday 26th July 2006

12:11 p.m. Last night was largely successful, I got applause after most numbers and the bar was quite busy despite us not being at full capacity. However, I experienced something last night which has happened a few times before where people seem to wander in during my instrumental numbers, and stare vacantly for the whole time they are in the room. So far I can’t really figure out why, maybe they can’t really fathom the possibility of there being a live pianist on-board, or maybe they are musing over the fact that I have both my ears and that my nose is in proportion to my head. If anyone has any other other possible explanations please let me know.