not long now

Thursday 28th June 2007

4:38 p.m. CET Probably the oddest (not to mention challenging) night on this ship so far last night. Firstly, it was extremely busy, which is very unusual for a Wednesday, which has typically been the quietest night of the week. Secondly, the audience reception was no better than luke-warm until the end of my penultimate set, which wasn’t helped by a couple of drunken morons who were heckling and being rather abrasive, although I quickly mollified them. Fortunately there was a large English group of students in for most of the evening, who were appreciative and were making requests. There were also a few other groups in who were attentive and asking for songs, one of which was Bed Of Roses which I hadn’t played for a long time, and it went down well. During my last set, one couple danced along to Girl From Ipanema. I also did my most bizarre dedication for one song (in response to a request) which was ‘to the guy who breeds ducks’.

One consolation to the evening was that there was some great scenery, firstly just after sunset when we had just passed Spurn Head, and later after I had finished when I was stood on deck, the sky was clear, and the moon hung low in the sky, reflecting brightly on the sea, which I haven’t seen much this time round.

Friday 29th June 2007

12:40 p.m. BST Had a much better night last night, it was less busy in general, and the piano bar was steady all night. The same group of students were in who had been in the night before, and I played several requests for them, as well as a few for some other groups.

Fortunately the sea has been a bit calmer during the last round-trip, so no repeat of Tuesday night.

Looking forward to going home

countdown

Tuesday 26th June 2007

3:06 p.m. CET What I didn’t mention when updating my blog yesterday was that I was utterly drenched, owing to the torrential rain that has affected all of Humberside. It was so severe that I was already soaking by the time I had reached the freight terminal, which is literally just round the corner from the ship. It got to the stage where I admitted defeat and waded defiantly through enormous puddles regardless of the consequences. I was quite relieved when returning to the ship, and felt much better after a hot shower and a change of clothes. The lengths I will go to for free internet access! (This is small beer compared to the devastation that has struck some parts of the UK in the last 24 hours though, particularly Sheffield. On reflection I think I got off lightly!)

Yesterday evening was a pleasant night, there was a group of German students who were sat nearby for most of the evening, who were very appreciative, and made several requests. Was a refreshing change from the last couple of weeks, where the majority of the audiences have consisted of older people.

After lunch today I made a start on packing. I have to say that for the first time since beginning work on the ferries, I am feeling slightly reluctant to leave my cabin, the narrow rectangular dwelling which has been my temporary home for what will (by the time I leave) have been forty nights. Still, all being well I will be able to return to it in a matter of a few weeks time.

8:20 p.m. CET It seems that Sky News, in their haste to broadcast coverage of the widespread flooding that has occurred, may not have been vetting their contributions from the public quite as stringently as they would perhaps otherwise do. Apparently earlier, one presenter read out a text message that they had received live on air that read ‘The Bransholme area of Hull is now completely underwater. Now no-one is able to get in or out. This is probably a good thing.’

Wednesday 27th June 2007

11:45 a.m. Not the most eventful night last night; it never really got going properly, although there were a few people who were making appreciative noises. The sea was rough for the first time in a few weeks, and a lot of people went to bed early (Last night during my second set I thought of playing 'A Life On The Ocean Wave' for the comedy value, but I decided against it). Unfortunately this affected me too, and I was given to another short bout of sea-sickness. Fortunately I managed to sleep through the rest of the roughness, and felt fine when waking this morning. The weather seems to have improved since Monday, it's dry and bright at the moment. Not sure how long it will last, but having looked at the weather forecast I think I'll have to make the most of it!

Only two more round-trips to go now...

distinguished visitor

Sunday 24th June 2007

5:26 p.m. CET The last few nights haven’t exactly been monumental but not the worst either. On Thursday there was one group in for the whole evening (who I later found out were from Worksop) who I was chatting to and had some banter with, and although they were rather merry towards the end of the evening, they were good fun and singing along to most of the songs. I also had some positive comments relating to my playing and my singing, and about a dozen requests, which was good. Also, one chap was asking if it was possible to get hold of a recording of me playing which was very encouraging!

Friday night was typically busy, and had a fairly good night, with the same group from the night before back on, and also a group of Germans sat nearby who were very appreciative. Had quite a few requests again, including some for some more obscure / complex material - one chap who asked for the 18th variation of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which needless to say I had to decline…

Last night was quite busy too, but didn’t really feel like a weekend eve, like many weekends of late. Had a slight complication early on in the form of the bar staff who were interfering with the volume controls seemingly at will, but I managed to swiftly correct both. Played a couple of numbers which I don’t perform very often, such as From A Distance, which seemed to go down especially well, and I played You Do Something To Me again, which yielded positive remarks. I had a fright later on when I was just about to launch into Let It Be, when just at that moment a guy walked past me who was the spitting image of Paul McCartney. Fortunately I discovered it wasn’t him, which was probably just as well, as I’m not sure what he would have said had it been the real Macca (plus I reasoned that the likelihood of him being on a P&O ferry was very slim indeed).

Gareth’s last night for a week tonight, and Marie will be covering for him once again. By the time he gets back next Sunday I will have already left, this being my last week on board, until my next contract (which all being well, should be back on this ship).

11:50 p.m. BST Again this evening was not exactly outstanding, but it was still a fairly good night. It was fairly busy, and the reception was quite warm all evening. Being a Sunday it was quite a laid-back affair (as is often the case), and for the first time I think I played as many standards as I did regular pop tunes. I had quite a few requests, including one for Dolly Parton which was a first! (I have yet to add any of her material to my repertoire…)

princess

Wednesday 20th June 2007

4:32 p.m. CET Sunday night was almost entirely uneventful. Monday night wasn’t much better, although there was one group sat fairly nearby who were appreciative and were making requests, despite their increasing rowdiness as the evening drew on. For some reason, last night the sound system, which had been fine for a couple of weeks, decided that it was going to refuse to work, so I spent quite a while trying to rectify the problem, which I eventually managed to do, and the evening went fairly well after that.

The weather is excellent here in Holland today, which is more than could be said for last night; just after we had left the harbour in Hull there was a gigantic thunderstorm which made the one in Europort the other week seem like an April shower. Saw some spectacular fork-lightning over Grimsby, and it seemed the cloud was following us as the storm continued well into my third set. It did die out however, although the torrential rain continued, to the extent of flooding the ironically-named ‘Sun Deck’. It’s a shame I was playing at the time of the storm, as I would have liked to have watched it more attentively, and possibly tried getting some photos or short video footage.

Yesterday it was four weeks since I began work on the Rotterdam. The time has flown by, more so than on any of my previous contracts, which was probably helped by the fact that I have kept myself busy with one thing and another. Looking back this is definitely the best ship to work on out of the four (apart from the food, although this does now seem to be steadily improving). By the time my contract has finished, this will be the first time I will have worked every night for a whole month continuously.

11:34 p.m. BST Again quite a relaxed evening this evening. Once again I played all standards during my first (instrumental) set, which went down well, particularly with a group of friendly Spaniards who were sat behind me. My vocal sets went well too, I didn’t have many requests, but I had several people coming up making positive comments.

Just before my 10:15 set I was stood on deck as not only was there an awe-inspiring sunset, but also the Grand Princess had just left her berth in Rotterdam and was on her way out to sea, and she passed us on the channel. I managed to get a picture of her just before the batteries on my camera ran out, it’s a bit blurred but you can make it out. (That black blob to the left of her hull is a tug boat).



We caught up with her just as we were leaving the mouth of the harbour, and we went past her at close range. She really did look amazing, from what I saw (which admittedly wasn’t much), there was an oddly-shaped observation deck at the back, and there was also an open-air cinema on the roof.

I forgot to mention earlier that I had a chat with Gareth this afternoon, and he is keen for me to come back after this contract, and possibly rotate with Tim, the other pianist, who has been working on and off this ship for a while.

Thursday 21st June 2007

10:43 a.m. BST Today is the longest day!

Last night Gareth and I were looking at a map of Europort, and he pointed out a small town just up the coast to the North with a rather amusing name…

bar buzz

Saturday 16th June 2007

1:35 p.m. CET Last night was a fairly average kind of evening, not really a typical Friday, until the latter half of my last set, when rather than playing a couple of light instrumentals and then sidling out the door, things gained momentum, I had two encores and several words of praise afterwards, so altogether quite an unusual sort of night, but nevertheless a good one.

One chap who approached me afterwards was a Dutch musician and music producer who amongst other things has written music for films.

Last night after I had finished I went out on deck and for the first time in a long while it was clear and I was able to get a good view of the night sky, and the lights of the Norfolk coast in the distance. More often than not, recently by the time we have set sail, there has either been thick fog, heavy rain, or both, which have usually persisted throughout the night.

Sunday 17th June 2007

11:24 a.m. BST As I’ve mentioned in previous entries, some weekend evenings tend to have a party-type atmosphere, and last evening was no exception. Had a warm reception from the audience throughout. Played five up-beat numbers on the trot during my penultimate set, which was the most I have played in succession for a while and they were all well received. One of which I hadn’t played before, namely Stuck In The Middle. Had several requests during my last set, so many in fact that I only ended up playing a couple of the songs that I had previously picked out!

another acquaintance

Friday 15th June 2007

10:56 a.m. BST The last couple of nights have been a bit more of a challenge. Wednesday night I played mostly standards during my instrumental set which seemed to go down well. Later on the bar was fairly busy but the audience were slow to acclimatise. Last night was again quite slow-going at first, but generally more positive, with a few attentive groups and couples throughout. I played a couple of new songs, including Sunshine Of My Life (Stevie Wonder) and You Do Something To Me (Paul Weller).

One of the managers from Live Business, Dave Taylor, was on-board last night. Was good to meet him finally, and he spent some time in the piano bar last night and gave me some positive feedback later, which was encouraging.

apprise

Tuesday 12th June 2007

4:38 p.m. CET Had a good night last night. Things were a bit slow-moving at first, but the numbers quickly picked up, as did the audience’s reception. There were several groups and couples who stayed for most (if not all) of the evening, and a few requests, including some from a couple who I later discovered were from Cracow. Two middle-aged women who had been sat behind me listening intently all evening, stayed until the end and were full of praise afterwards.

As part of my musical research, I sometimes read up on various musicians and artists on the internet. Was reading about Burt Bacharach on Wikipedia earlier on. What a career! He must be one of the most prolific song-writers of all time. You can find the article I was reading on him here. Quite inspiring stuff.

Wednesday 13th June 2007

11:10 a.m. Yesterday evening was typically quiet for a midweek, but I didn’t mind as I was still slightly under the weather. Still had a warm reception though, despite playing instrumentals for the first half of the evening. Needless to say I finished early again.

I have just finished reading ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson (thanks to Lewis for the recommendation). Was thoroughly enjoyable, but also an eye-opener, learned some astonishing things about nature which I never knew, and it also contained some salient points about the (sometimes catastrophic) effects of our presence on the earth and the environment. Well worth a read.

acquaintances

Friday 8th June 2007

8:16 p.m. CET Both Tuesday night and Wednesday night were fairly uneventful, especially Wednesday, I think I only sang about eleven songs in total (which was the fewest for a while), the rest were instrumental. I finished early both nights. Last night was more like a weekend, there were plenty of people in the show lounge and the piano bar throughout the evening. There was a group of about a dozen older people in for the first half of the evening who were very appreciative, and there were a few other couples and smaller groups dotted about who were making requests later on. Played my rendition of Penny Lane for the first time, which went down particularly well. One chap also requested Song for Guy; it was the first time I played for several months but I managed to play it all the way through without any problems. Had a few compliments afterwards, which was encouraging, as it’s nice to know that people are grateful even if I don’t always get consistent applause.

There seems to be a good mixture of people in tonight, different ages and backgrounds. Time to start compiling my songs for this evening…

11:53 p.m. BST Had quite a good night tonight. There was a group of older people in again this evening (in fact I think it might have been the same lot from last night), and this time they stayed until the end. There were plenty of other people in too, and I had a warm reception throughout, and several requests.

Yesterday afternoon while I was using my laptop in my cabin I noticed that a new wireless network called ‘internet@sea’ had appeared. I managed to connect to it, but when I tried to load any web-pages I was forwarded to a login page. Later on I asked about it at reception but they didn’t seem to know anything about it. Still, it would be good to have internet access on the ship, particularly while at sea! I’m hoping that it’s a new thing which they are planning to roll out to everybody (certainly it appears to be new).

Sunday 10th June 2007

4:11 p.m. CET Last night was predictably busy, although early on in the evening I became afflicted with a sore throat so I was unable to sing. Nevertheless I played a variety of material, and later on in the evening I had people singing along to the some of the more up-beat tunes. I finished early again.

I was hoping to go down to the Seafarer’s Centre on this (the Europort) side this afternoon, to swim and possibly investigate the internet facilities, but as I was still feeling rough this morning I decided to stay on-board.

I’m not sure if I’ll be up to a night of singing tonight either, but I should be able to manage at least a few vocal numbers.

Monday 11th June 2007

12:46 p.m. BST Despite still suffering I managed to sing a fair bit last night, and had a pretty good night. A couple were sat nearby who had been in on Thursday night, so I chatted to them and they made a few requests, along with several others who were dotted about. Again had a few words of thanks afterwards from different people which was positive.

Earlier on I got an e-mail from Mathias, who was working as resident pianist on the Rotterdam when I was working on the York last year. His latest gig involves playing the piano aboard some kind of luxury cruise boat on the Danube!

Today Gareth (the Ent’s manager) is celebrating his birthday (Happy Birthday G!) so we are going for a meal somewhere later on. Great weather for it too, it’s excellent here in Hull today.

another u.s.o. (unidentified sailing object)

Monday 4th June 2007

5:13 p.m. CET A bit of a difficult night last night, with many large groups of older Europeans; a bit of a tough crowd to entertain. I did get a visitation by some familiar faces however, in the form of some crew members from the York who were on-board, who I hadn’t seen since November. The bar was virtually empty by the middle of my last set, so I finished early again.

Continuing my theme of strange marine vessels which I began back in February when I was on the Pride of Hull, the other day while docked in Holland (in superb weather) I was doing some practice late in the afternoon and notice what appeared to be a oddly-shaped crane mounted on a ship making its way down the channel towards the sea. I went out on deck by the time it had come into view, and managed to get a picture of it. It’s a bit blurred as it was still some distance away, but you can still make it out.



Tuesday 5th June 2007

1:24 p.m. BST Yesterday evening was a nice relaxed affair, so much so that I played mostly laid-back jazz numbers in my first set, with a fair bit of improvisation, which I have been doing more since the start of this contract. During my second set I also performed Tiny Dancer by Elton John, which I have just learned. It was quiet again by my last set and I wound up early by playing some instrumentals.

la natation

Saturday 2nd June 2007

5:50 p.m. CET Yesterday evening was remarkably quiet considering it was an outward journey from Hull on a Friday, which tends to be the busiest of the week. The show-lounge wasn’t really a hive of activity either. Although it wasn’t the most fulfilling of evenings, I decided that I wanted to play some material which I hadn’t done for a while, to name a few, The First Time (Ever) I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack, A Little Respect (by Erasure, my own piano interpretation), and Everything She Does Is Magic by the Police, which went down well. I also played Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix (loosely based on the Sting version), which went quite well although most people had left by then.

It turns out that the swimming pool at the Seafarer’s Centre on this (the Dutch) side is only free to use at weekends, so I cycled down there again today. I was pleased to find that the pool and the garden it backed onto were both almost deserted, apart from the band leader who also goes there on weekends. It was lovely weather, warm with a breeze which was rustling through the tall trees lining the hotel garden. After doing some swimming I sat for a while soaking up the sun and enjoying the calm atmosphere.

Sunday 3rd June 2007

12:53 p.m. BST Despite being a Saturday, last night too seemed a bit quieter than usual for a weekend, although I still had a good night and a warm receptive audience which was the first since Monday. Had many requests, including some for artists that I don’t get asked for very often, such as The Beach Boys and Pat Boon! Since being on this ship the requests I have had have generally been more diverse than previously. Plenty to get my teeth in to for my next bout of musical research!

het onderzoeken

Thursday 31st May 2007

4:12 p.m. CET Had a steady night last night, which was a welcome interlude from the busy nights of late. Despite it not being especially busy, there were a few couples who were requesting songs and stayed until the end.

The weather has been superb today, after lunch one of the guys from the band lent me his bicycle and after making my way through the freight terminal and exploring the port a bit, I rode down the path between the canal and the main road just outside the port for a couple of miles or so, passing several aerogenerators, peering down on the passing traffic from behind the trees like giant alien observers, and I also saw several big barges, some of them being shunted by tug boats down the canal. I stopped at what appeared at first glance to be an orchard, but after closer investigation it seemed to be more of an abandoned picnic area, which had become overrun by rabbits.

Having examined a map of the local area I now know that the harbour that houses the mooring for P&O Ferries is called Beneluxhaven, and the nearest settlement to the port is a place called Kruiningergors, which is only actually a couple of kilometres away. The nearest town is Oostvoorne, which is about twice that distance (as the crow flies), but would be fairly accessible on a bike. I think I will make a trip down there sometime, but I think that would be more of a day out rather than an afternoon amble.

As well as getting some fresh air and some exercise, and familiarising myself with the surrounding area, one other advantage to my small-scale expedition was stumbling across the Seafarer’s Centre, which is at a hotel not far away. Apparently they have a swimming pool which is free to use, so I will definitely be making use of that at some point during the next week or so.

Friday 1st June 2007

11:12 a.m. BST Not the most satisfying of nights last night, although it was very busy and there were people listening and making requests, the evening didn’t flow all that well, not least during the first part of the evening, when attention was diverted by an enormous thunderstorm that rolled overhead just before our departure from Europort. Before my 9 o’clock set I was stood in the doorway of the crew deck and witnessed some pretty spectacular lightning and very loud thunder. During my first vocal set I saw the sunset on the horizon, despite the huge thundercloud, which was quite an unusual and extraordinary sight. Later on during my break, after we had left the port and were out in open sea, I was watching the storm which was still very active on the horizon, with the clouds occasionally glowing and flickering silver and gold.

It wasn’t until getting ready for work yesterday evening that I noticed that I had been rather badly sun-burnt during my cycling expedition! Fortunately it wasn’t too painful and it has now largely faded.

Footnote: I have just been reading an article about Europort on Wikipedia which claims that the Pride of Rotterdam and Pride of Hull are the largest passenger ferries in the world!

Footnote 2: 'het onderzoeken' is Dutch for 'exploring'. In case you didn't know.