closing stage

Sunday 25th May 2008

5:00 p.m. CET Had an excellent night last night, again there were plenty of people in the bar for the most part, and for the first time this contract I sang from the start of my 9 o’clock set and did three complete sets from that point on. The audience were very receptive, not least a group I got chatting to who were sat nearby and stayed until the end, made several requests and were singing along to many of the songs. Among them were Tiny Dancer, and Without You (Nilson) which I hadn’t performed since last year. They are due back on the ship tonight so I’m hoping they will be present again!

Didn’t end up going to Knokke today, as the weather wasn’t particularly great earlier, so I stayed on board and started making preparations for going home on Wednesday…

11:15 p.m. BST Had another good night tonight, it was fairly busy again, and that group were back in for most of the evening. Played another array of tunes which I hadn’t performed for a while, including Killing Me Softly, I Write The Songs, Morning Has Broken, and You’re A Lady, all of which had been requested and went down very well. There was another group sat right by me for most of the evening who were making lots of noise but during my last set I placated them by playing a couple of their requests.

Only one more round-trip to go now!

Wednesday 28th May 2008

3:00 p.m. BST I am on the train on the way home now. Monday night went fairly well, it was quite busy but not the most outstanding of evenings. As often happens there was a group sat nearby for most of the evening, who were listening quite intently and made some requests. I reluctantly agreed to play New York New York, which I don’t tend to do very often, but it went down very well and seemed to liven things up a bit. At the end I played The Scientist by Coldplay, which I hadn’t played for a while and went down well.

Last night was pretty quiet in comparison, again not the most eventful of evenings but it went quite quickly which was welcome as it was my last night! I played and sang Love Changes Everything for the first time which was probably the most well-received number of the evening.

After I had finished last night I went down to the show-bar which was pretty quiet too, but this didn’t stop the band playing Nothing Else Matters (I assume for me, since I had said before that I appreciated it).

deja vu

Friday 23rd May 2008

11:00 p.m. BST Last night went fairly well, the bar was busy all evening, and there was a group of blokes sat by the piano for most of the evening requesting loads of songs, some of which I don’t play very often, such as Baker Street and Englishman In New York which both got an airing and went down very well.

This evening was busy again, but wasn’t quite as cohesive as the night before. Nevertheless I still had plenty of requests, so much so that I ended up not playing half of the songs that I had picked out beforehand! Among them was Blue Moon, which I hadn’t played for a while.

Today I went for a walk down to the sea-front and back with Amy (the new children’s entertainer). Originally a larger group of us were due to be going to Knokke to see what it was like as none of us had been, but the weather turned on us slightly and we ran out of time. We may go on Sunday instead.

This evening I saw two familiar objects that I had seen before during my travels. Firstly the same crane-boat as I featured in this blog post almost a year ago when I was working on the Pride of Rotterdam, which I spotted when we were already quite a way out to sea while I was on my break, then when I was in the middle of my second set, I saw a clipper similar to the one I saw back in September ’06 (only a couple of months after starting on here, although back then I incorrectly referred to it as a schooner) only tonight’s one was quite a bit bigger. Predictably, it was too far behind us by the time my break came, so again no photo opportunity! Coincidentally, this blog post also refers to the only time on this ship, apart from the other night, when I could remember it being quiet enough for me to skip my last set.

a walk to zeesluis (and back)

Wednesday 21st May 2008

11:07 p.m. BST Last night was so quiet that I was able to skip my last set. Tonight was busier, although I stuck to playing instrumentals and altered my set times as they were showing the Champions League Final on the TV in the Clipper Bar (by the Moonlight Lounge where the piano is). Despite not singing the evening still went very well, with many numbers going down well, and some girls were even dancing to Sway in a space by the door. Also there was a group sat by the piano for most of the evening who were requesting tunes.

Today the weather was very good again in Belgium so I walked down through the town, and to the raising bridge that I mentioned once before. My arrival was quite timely, as the alarm had just sounded for the two sections of the bridge to be raised, so I watched as this was done and two ships sailed through the narrow channel to the harbour and on to the sea. It was quite strange being stood on a roadside and being that close up to a ship! I also realised that some of the freight ships are perhaps not quite as large as I had first imagined. I took some pictures while I was there (below is one of them), and on the way back I noticed this strange mural on the wall of a building by the marina.



I also got a few shots after we had left this evening as there was an amazing sky.


More on my web-space as usual.

Less than a week to go until I go home, and although this contract has gone fairly quickly I am feeling about ready for a break now.

Thursday 22nd May 2008

11:07 a.m. BST That cruise ship that I saw a couple of times recently (and photographed from a distance) was the same one or similar to the one featured in this article on Wikipedia (and conveniently also features the bridge I was talking about!)

anchor

Tuesday 20th May 2008

10:52 a.m. BST Sunday night started off fairly busy again but not as much as the two previous nights. Had a good reception for most of the evening, particularly for New York State of Mind and Georgia. As often happens, things were a bit slow-going at first last night, but the audience soon warmed up and Sealed With A Kiss and From A Distance seemed to be the most well-appreciated.

On Sunday night during my last set we sailed within close-range of an oil platform.

Yesterday, Lee (the Ent’s Manager) talked me into going down to Blankenberge with him for a bit. We took the tram and had a wander around before stopping off at a café on the sea-front for refreshments. En route we passed dozens of bars and restaurants with on-street verandas, including this rather more odd-looking one with a large anchor on its frontage!

I also got a few other pictures, including some of the marina, similar to the one in Zeebrugge, which I have uploaded to my web-space.

reacquainted

Saturday 17th May 2008

2:18 p.m. CET Wednesday night was nothing to write home about (literally!). Thursday night was a bit slow-going at first, but the audience seemed to warm up as the evening wore on, and was particularly appreciative of Bridge Over Troubled Water, My Way and Always On My Mind. After my first vocal set, Dave Taylor from Live Business materialised and was very complimentary, as he was last year when I met him on the Pride of Rotterdam. Last night was a bit of a tough test, despite the bar being very busy all evening (incidentally the only ‘mad Friday’ of this contract), and delivering a pretty good performance by my own reckoning, found it quite difficult to reach most of the audience. There were a few exceptions however, as She, Sweet Caroline and I Just Called seem to be well received. There was a couple sat piano-side for most of the evening who I had got chatting to at dinner, who were very appreciative, which helped to soften the experience slightly!

Sunday 18th May 2008

10:20 a.m. Last night was very busy again but on the whole a better night than Friday. As with Friday I had to open the lid of the piano slightly to prevent myself from being drowned out! One of the few occasions during this contract where I have sang for most of the evening, with just a few instrumentals here and there to give my voice a rest. Played a few numbers that I hadn’t done for a while, including Suspicious Minds, and He Ain’t Heavy. There were a couple of blokes sat by me for most of the evening who I was chatting to and they sang along to most of the songs. Later on in the evening there was a couple in who I saw last Saturday, so I dedicated a song to them too.

As Belgium is an hour ahead of the UK, when we leave Zeebrugge these days it tends to be light for at least the first hour of the crossing. Last night during my second set I spotted another cruise ship on the horizon, but by the time I went out for my break it was almost out of sight. However, I did witness yet another astounding sunset.

atop the vessel

Tuesday 13th May 2008

1:02 p.m. CET At times last night felt a bit like an uphill struggle, the bar was fairly busy but there was a noisy group of French people sat right by me for most of the evening, although I did manage to pacify them slightly by doing a dedication for one of them (in French) who was celebrating his birthday.

Had boat-drill this morning, but instead of the usual procedure we got are rare opportunity to go up to the very top of the ship for some lifeboat training.



11:18 p.m. BST This evening was not the easiest either, although it did have some good points. During my second set I played all instrumentals despite the bar being quite busy, amongst them were Little Brown Jug (for the bar staff!), which I had never played before, and Take 5, which I had never performed before. Despite that, they both went down very well with the (mostly German) audience, along with most of the other numbers that I played. Later on I played and sang Something by The Beatles for the first time, and Baby Grand, which I don’t tend to play very often, and both of them were also fairly well received. I ended up doing two one-hour long vocal sets instead of the usual three forty-fives.

The spate of excellent weather on both ends of the ship’s route came to an end yesterday afternoon, when the clouds rolled in from the sea, making it overcast when we set sail. Tonight is the first night of any real sea movement since I came back on board.

'watching the ships roll in'

Sunday 11th May 2008

5:02 p.m. CET Last night got off to a good start, as after my first (instrumental) set, two men separately asked me when I would be playing again. Just as I was about to start my first vocal set, there was a large group of French school children in, their teacher hushed them and inadvertently hushed the rest of the room as well! This made it feel more like a performance, which I enjoyed despite it putting a bit more focus on myself. I carried on as normal though, people were generally attentive throughout the evening, and I think I did a fairly good job of appealing to as much of the audience as possible. I played a couple of requests, including The Way You Look Tonight, and Three Times A Lady, to which one couple danced. By my last set it was fairly quiet, and I rounded off by playing a couple more instrumentals, most notably Autumn Leaves which I improvised to.

A perfect day weather-wise in Belgium today, and I spent some time outside on deck earlier on. There were a couple of very large cargo ships, and I got some pictures of each of them. There has also been another cruise ship moored up in the dock today. I don’t know whether it is going to be leaving soon or laying over but I am off to investigate now.



Monday 12th May 2008

10:32 a.m. BST Without doubt my best night so far last night, the bar was busy all evening and I had a good response throughout. There was one fairly large group sat next to me for most of the time who were quite rowdy but were singing along to a few of the songs, including Ticket to Ride, Easy and Walk On By. Mid-way through the evening one guy requested the theme tune to M*A*S*H, so I played it during my last set and it went very well despite it being unrehearsed.

I did go to investigate whether that cruise ship was still around yesterday afternoon but unfortunately by the time I got outside it had already left. I did manage to get a photo of it from a distance though.

return and a centenary

Saturday 10th May 2008

10:48 a.m. BST I am back on the Pride of York again (for my sins!) having taken a six-month break from the ships. Again it doesn't feel like I've been away for any time at all. I’ve just done my first couple of round trips which went OK. Tuesday night was a quiet affair, but a good one nevertheless. As I was still in the process of getting the sound levels right, my first set consisted of a few regular instrumentals plus some more experimental stuff, including a 12-bar blues which went down well. Not long after I had begun, a man in uniform came over and shook hands with me and introduced himself as the captain which was quite unexpected! There was a good atmosphere in the bar and a good response during my first vocal set, which I think was partly down to me having a carefully chosen set-list. The numbers dwindled during the rest of the evening, but the audience seemed fairly appreciative throughout. By the time my last set was coming to a close there were only a few people left in the bar, and a woman asked if she could sing Chasing Cars so I played it and sang some harmonies.

On Wednesday the weather was very warm and sunny in Belgium so I took a walk down to the beach briefly, but had to come back as the heat became unbearable!

Wednesday night was fairly quiet again, although not as much as the night before, with a steady number of people in the bar throughout the evening. There was a spectacular sunset mid-way through the evening which I could partially see from the piano. There was a couple sat nearby for most of the evening, the man was also a singer and at the end of my penultimate set he guested on House of the Rising Sun, which was the best received number of the evening!

Had a fairly slow start to Thursday evening but it soon picked up, I played Sway and this proved popular. I had a few requests including one for New York New York which I don’t tend to play very often but I did it and people were singing along.

Last night was pretty quiet for a Friday, although there was one large group in as well as several smaller ones for the second half of the evening. Again there was a couple sat nearby who I was chatting to throughout the evening and they made a few requests. During my second set I played a couple of new standards, namely Beyond the Sea and All Of Me.

While I was on my second break I was stood on deck just after another amazing sunset and I saw something moving in the water beside the ship. A moment later I saw the dorsal fin and back of a dolphin.

Footnote: I've just realised that this is my 100th Blog post!