fireworks III

Wednesday 15th August 2007

11:55 p.m. BST Last night wasn’t too bad although it wasn’t the best night. Peter from Live Business was on the ship and he came into the piano bar briefly but I didn’t get a chance to speak to him. By the last set it was very quiet and I wound up by playing several instrumentals, the last of which was Nightswimming which I hadn’t played for ages.

Tonight was generally a better night, and though I didn’t have many requests the audience were more receptive. I fancied doing something a bit different this evening, so I decided to play some numbers that I hadn’t performed for a while, and they went down well. Also I played Honesty by Billy Joel for the first time, and Sweet Caroline and Stuck In The Middle for the second.

The bruises from the paint-balling excursion have now begun to develop, one on my arm is particularly colourful. From the sound of things I think I got off lightly with just four, Michelle for example came away with ten!

Only two more round-trips until I go home now. It feels like I have been on here a lot longer than two weeks…

Sunday 19th August 2007

2:15 p.m. CET Wednesday and Thursday nights were both fairly uneventful, although on Wednesday evening there was a guy in who said he recognised me from when I had been working the Zeebrugge route, and on Thursday night there were a group of girls in the bar briefly who complimented me on my voice.

Friday night was fairly successful although as with last weekend the numbers dwindled towards the middle of the evening and didn’t really pick up again, which I attributed to the lure of the show downstairs. It was still a good night nevertheless, with several groups and couples in, some of which who stayed until the end. Didn’t have many requests but the majority of people seemed fairly attentive.

Last night was a different story, it was busy throughout the evening, I had about a dozen requests and people singing along to some of the numbers. There was one fairly young group of Germans in who I recognised from about a week ago, who were en route back home, and I chatted to them for a short while afterwards. Probably the best night of this contract.

Only one more night now, as tomorrow I am returning home for a couple of weeks, then I have another (thankfully brief!) stint on the York.

Tuesday 21st August 2007

3:48 p.m. BST Am back at home again now. Had an excellent last night, even better than the one before. Again it was busy all evening, and the atmosphere in the bar was excellent. During my second set I played a rather triumphant rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water, followed by some more upbeat material, which went down quite well and had several people singing along. I also played instrumental stuff, including Song For Guy which I hadn’t played for a while, The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby, and Ballade Pour Adelaine. I was talking to a couple afterwards who knew Nottingham very well as their daughter is at Uni here.

I forgot to say that on Saturday night during my last set I played a couple of Elvis numbers, by way of marking the 30 year anniversary of his death.

Also on Friday night while I was on my break, I was stood on deck at the back of the ship, I could see the lights of Europort in the distance, and as happened once before last year when I was on the York leaving Belgium, I spotted a fireworks display taking place somewhere just up the coast (somewhere in the region of The Hague or possibly even Monster!)