de molen

Thursday 7th August 2008

3:52 p.m. BST Sunday night was generally quieter than previous, and during my last set, Rachael (the children’s host) and Stefan, one of the trainee engineers, came and sat in the bar near me and were requesting several songs.

I got back home yesterday having had a good last round-trip. On Tuesday it was quite warm and a few of us went down to neighbouring Rozenburg in the band’s van. The main feature was a windmill, which stood on the square in the centre of the town (pictured).

Tuesday night went well even though it wasn’t terribly busy. During my first set there was a young boy dancing erratically in front of the piano which was very amusing! I sang I’m A Believer with the band during my last break, which went well. It was the first time I had been on stage in the show-lounge on either of the two larger ships.

As it stands I look to be set for another stint on the Rotterdam in October.

penultimate

Sunday 3rd August 2008

11:15 p.m. BST Had a bit of a slow start tonight, but ironically the audience seemed to warm as the number of people in the bar dwindled. The nice thing about it though was that it was less hard work than the last few nights, so I didn’t really mind. And I still had a few requests and some compliments afterwards.

I was hoping to go ‘het onderzoeken’ (exploring) again today, but sadly it was raining all day in Holland so I stayed on-board.

5:02 p.m. CET The last few evenings have been mixed - Thursday night was very busy, so much so that I partially opened the lid of the piano to make myself heard! Towards the end of my second set a woman danced while I was playing Ain’t No Sunshine.

Friday night started off well but was not as busy as often seems to be the case. Last night was much better, I sang from the start of my second (9:15) set right until the end with only a few instrumentals thrown in for good measure and to give my voice a break. I had several requests, including ones for Let It Be, Everything I Do, and Sailing. During my third set, in-between songs, a guy walked past whistling the chorus from Piano Man which was the next song I had lined up to play! I did an encore, and had many nice compliments afterwards and noticed that several people only got up to leave once I had finished.

I was recently offered a contract on the Pride of Bilbao starting in the middle of this month, but I had to turn it down as I will be in Sweden when it is due to start. A shame in a way, as it would have been a good opportunity to work on a different route and see some new places, but I’m sure there will be other opportunities in the future.

In the mean time, I’ve only got one more round-trip after this one and feeling like I am more than ready for a break!