fireworks

Monday 30th October 2006

1:05 p.m. GMT Had another excellent night last night, there were two groups and one couple who had been on on Thursday so they were very attentive and came up with plenty more requests (including a few that were left over from last time!)

I forgot to mention last week that someone else was on the boat that I knew, a guy called Sid who I knew from PC ServiceCall, along with his partner. Coincidentally I had bumped into him in Nottingham a few weeks earlier just after I had returned from my last contract.

Spotted a cruise ship moored up just across the harbour in Zeebrugge yesterday and I later learned that it was the QE2! She left the dock just after 6pm and I managed to get a few photos. Unfortunately they didn’t come out very well due to the low light but here is the best one.



Just after we left last night I was sat in the DJ Booth after my first set and noticed that there was a big fireworks display going on somewhere in Blankenberge. We were already a couple of miles out but it was still easily visible and still quite spectacular despite not being very nearby.

backwards sandwiches

Sunday 29th October 2006

3:54 p.m. CET Wednesday night was busy but not as exhilarating as my first couple of nights back on board. Thursday night was quiet so was a welcome breather. Friday night was very busy as usual, and went very well. There was a couple sat nearby throughout the evening whose taste in music was almost identical to mine so I had almost all of the songs that they requested, including several that I had already picked out to play! I played a few songs that I hadn’t played in a while, including Nightswimming by REM and Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi. Had requests from other audience members for some less suitable material such as the Scissor Sisters that needless to say I wasn’t able to fulfil!

Last night was very busy too, and one of the few occasions where I decided to open the lid of the piano in order to gain a bit more volume. I’m glad I did because in doing so I managed to captivate the audience and the evening was a success. There were several attentive groups, including one large group sat right next to me who were also a similar age. They requested several songs, including Speed of Sound by Coldplay (which was a popular choice not least with me as it has sentimental value), Always by Bon Jovi (which I had also not played in quite a while), and I even managed to get their participation as backing singers on Easy by Lionel Richie (on the “Ah’s”) which went down very well. At the end of the night (after a particularly triumphant rendition of Always On My Mind, they wanted an encore and someone piped up suggesting Don’t Cha by the Pussycat Dolls as a joke, so I played a short spoof version of it for the comedy value, before rounding the evening off with the often-requested Angels. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

Had an extremely late night last night, which was partly fuelled by adrenaline from the evening’s playing. I sat in the crew mess until the early hours of the morning with a couple of the other guys from the entertainments team, and ate some ‘backwards’ sandwiches, a delicacy which I have rediscovered of late.

encores

I forgot to say yesterday that on Monday night I had THREE encores, which is an all-time record, then I had another last night, at the end of a very successful evening. It went quite slowly at first, but things picked up and there were several couples and groups who stayed until the end, many of which thanked me afterwards which was a nice positive touch.

A cold grey day here in Zeebrugge today, but this didn’t deter some of us from taking a walk down to the sea-front for a couple of Iced Teas.

new contract, new material

Am back on the Pride of York again for another five-week stint after just over a month’s break. Have just completed the first round trip, and again in some ways it feels like I never left. The first notable difference is that it is completely dark by the time we set sail now, which is a bit of a shame as I used to enjoy spending the time in the early evening when I wasn’t playing on deck. Of course I can still do this but won’t be able to see much.

The two nights so far have been pretty busy. Sunday night was ok despite the sound system not working properly. Managed to sort that out yesterday morning and had a better night last night, playing a few songs I’ve not played before such as Fire and Rain by James Taylor, (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66, and Feel by Robbie Williams, all of which went down well.

Just after we left Zeebrugge yesterday evening we sailed through a thunderstorm which was quite spectacular. A bit later on I went out on deck but it was raining so heavily that I didn’t stay out there long!

It’s a nice morning here in Hull so I will probably go for a bit of a walk later on, after going to go down to the Seafarer’s Mission in a short while to use their internet facilities.

I've abandoned the idea of including the date and time of typing in my blog entries, as it has caused some confusion! I compose the majority of my blogs offline when at sea, but upload them when I am in port. The date and time of the entries is from when I upload them while I am ashore in Hull.)