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.