special guests

Thursday 20th September 2007

4:15 p.m. CET I had a bit of an unfair advantage last where audience appreciation was concerned, as my grandparents were in for most of the evening and were applauding loudly after each number. It seemed that their presence brought out positive comments from other people, I had more compliments last night than any other evening of this contract.

As this is my last day in Belgium for a while, having already done most of my packing, I decided to have a light lunch at the terminal, then took a walk down to the beach and back. It was mild but very windy so I only went for an hour. It was partially sunny which made for fairly good conditions for wandering around Bruges, which is where my grandparents are today. They sail back tonight, and I will be getting a lift back to Nottingham with them tomorrow.

The end of this contract has come around quickly, and this is not an entirely bad thing. Having said that, the second half of this contract has been a lot more positive an experience than the first half, but I’m still not really sure whether I would want to do another contract on this ship.

10:37 p.m. BST Tonight would probably have been a bit slow-going had it not been for my two guests of honour! Despite it being quite it was still a good night, and there were other people listening too. Only had a few requests, but the evening flowed very well and was a breeze considering it’s my last night of this contract.

Apparently the weather wasn’t exactly warm and sunny in Bruges, but it didn’t rain and they’re glad they went. The sea was a bit rough earlier when we first left port but it’s fairly calm now.

jewels of the sea

Tuesday 18th September 2007

1:40 p.m. CET Rather unexpectedly (to me at least) we are at sea. Apparently a cargo ship needed to borrow our berth for a few hours so we’re out for a leisurely afternoon amble. I was just on deck chatting to one of the crew, and he said that they may have been able to drop the anchor had the sea not been as rough. It was quite amusing to watch some smaller vessels going past bobbing wildly as they fought their way through the waves.

As we were leaving the harbour earlier on I noticed another cruise ship moored up just across the way, the Jewel of the Seas.



The piano bar was very quiet last night.

11:40 p.m. BST Another good night tonight, again the piano bar was busy all evening, the audience were appreciative and I was swamped with requests. Despite the usual compliment of older Germans there was quite a good mix of people in this evening, and I’m fairly confident that I managed to appeal to most.

Only one more round-trip now until I go home. What a strange time this contract has been.

[Currently reading yet another Bryson – ‘Neither Here Nor There’, about his travels in Europe. Very entertaining. I’ve had to try very hard to suppress my laughter late at night for fear of waking fellow crew-members!]

centenary

Friday 14th September 2007

11:22 p.m. CET Last night was nothing to write home about, but I had a mostly good night tonight, with the same audience remaining virtually unchanged throughout the evening, until mid-way through my last set when a large (all male) group of rowdy Germans came in and shattered the tranquil atmosphere that I had deftly crafted during the previous three hours. Still I suppose it is to be expected on this ship; the Moonlight Lounge is probably one of the least sophisticated piano bars there is. It’s more of a licensed waiting-room.

Sunday 16th September 2007

4:56 p.m. CET Another mostly busy night last night, nothing major to report although it was a good night, had a pretty good reception and a few requests.

Since I began this stretch on the York I decided that I wanted to do some more exploring at some point. After consulting the weather forecast (which was favourable) and a map of the local area I decided to go out this afternoon, and walked down to the Old Fishing Port, after picking up some Euros from the post office on the sea-front. I remembered that the harbour tour-boat sailed daily, and as it turned out I arrived with literally only moments to spare before the next excursion! Despite the commentary being unintelligible due to it being muffled and (strangely) in just about every other European language apart from English, it was an enjoyable trip. I didn’t really see anything that I hadn’t seen before, but I did get to see things closer up and from different angles to previously.



After the tour had ended (it lasted about 75 minutes in total) I spent some time wandering around Zeebrugge before catching the tram back to the stop nearest the ship. (More pics on my web-space)

According to various signs and flags that are dotted around the place at the moment, the Port of Zeebrugge is celebrating its centenary this year. It seemed as if the whole of Flanders had taken to their bicycles today; I think this might have been part of the festivities.



11:55 p.m. CET Tonight went very well and was easily the best since Wednesday. From the sounds of it the piano bar was busier than the show-lounge which doesn’t happen very often. Among the audience there was one large group and one small group both sat nearby who I got chatting to and were making requests and stayed until the end. Also later on there was a couple in who just caught the end of my last set last night. I played Neil Young’s song After The Gold Rush for the first time which went down quite well, and I also played Julia Says and Fields of Gold which I hadn’t played for quite a while. Had one encore, and many appreciative comments afterwards, including one lady who complimented me on my choice of songs, which was encouraging.

With the danger of sounding big-headed, apparently Graeme who is currently working behind the bar in the Moonlight Lounge gave Malcolm (the Ent’s Manager) some informal feedback last night about me, saying “He's just right for this bar. He reads the room well, he plays the right kind of songs, and he’s never too loud.”

It’s not all bad.

diverse

Wednesday 12th September 2007

11:33 p.m. CET I’ve had a mixed up time the last few days.

Sunday night was fairly quiet, with several couples and groups coming and going throughout the evening. Nothing major to report however.

Unfortunately I think I must have eaten something that disagreed with me on Sunday as I was rather ill on Monday, so much so that I was bed-bound for most of the day. Despite feeling slightly better by the evening, I still felt a bit rough during the evening (which thankfully was quiet), but which wasn’t helped by the first real sea movement we’ve had since I’ve been on here.

Tonight was the best since the weekend, surprisingly busy for a Wednesday, in fact the bar was virtually full, and as such there was a good atmosphere throughout the evening. There were a couple of groups sat by me for most of the evening, who made several requests, most of which I knew and played. Did a couple of numbers that I hadn’t played for a while, namely Morning Has Broken and Love On The Rocks. Rounded off the evening by playing Happy Birthday for Ricardo, one of the guys who works behind the bar, whose birthday it was today.

Having recovered from my bout of illness, and since the weather was lovely today, I took a walk down to the beach and back this afternoon. It was the first time I had been off the ship on the Belgian side since starting back on here a week ago.

I have managed to book my grandparents onto the ship for a round-trip so that is something to look forward to for the end of the contract next week.

Am now nearly half-way through this contract. Although I’ve only been on here a week this time round, apart from a couple of good nights things haven’t exactly been fantastic...

I Sing The Songs

Saturday 8th September 2007

12:58 p.m. CET A busier night in comparison last night, although nowhere near busy enough to deem it a ‘mad Friday’ (i.e. an outward sailing from Hull on a Friday night with a full ship’s quota of passengers). Nevertheless it was a good night, the bar was busy all evening, I had several requests. During my last set, one chap who I had been speaking to earlier on in the evening came up and sang Let There Be Love. The reception was pretty good throughout the night and I had one encore.

11:47 p.m. CET Another busy night tonight, and although the evening was a bit slow-going at first, it picked up, and I had a warm reception later on. I played I Write The Songs by Barry Manilow for the first time, and it went down well. Again had one encore so I played The Rose which was very well appreciated.

While we were making our way out of the harbour in Zeebrugge earlier, I noticed the same ‘crane-boat’ that I spotted in Europort, which I featured in my blog in June, back when I was on the Rotterdam (I can’t believe that was three months ago!) There was also an enormous container ship on its way into port, which was easily half as big again as this ship. I didn’t manage to get any pics though as I was playing at the time.

Silver Shadow

Thursday 6th September 2007

11:47 a.m. CET So I’m back on the York again, nine months and nine days since the last time. Although it is very familiar, I’m not getting the kind of déja-vu that I was expecting. The ship is essentially the same as I remember it (if a little dirtier!), but the piano-bar has been refurbished, with new carpet and furniture.

Last night went well, despite being very quiet, I had an disproportionately numerous amount of requests, and a good reception from the people that were there.

Friday 7th September 2007

10:30 a.m. BST Another quiet night last night, although there was one group in for most of the evening who I got friendly with and I played several songs for them.

Yesterday there was a small cruise-ship moored just up the quay from us in Zeebrugge, and with the help of one of the engineers and some research on-line I have managed to identify it as the Silver Shadow, which is a coincidence as this was also the name of the music group that I formed at school (well almost, the name of the group was The Silver Shadows).



Its destinations are quite impressive, over the next few months it will be sailing to Lisbon and Las Palmas, before sailing on to San Diego and Fort Lauderdale.

Tomorrow in Zeebrugge there is some big event on, during which there will be several external visitors milling around the ship while it is in port during the day. I have agreed to play a couple of daytime sets.