variable conditions

Sunday 26th October 2008

5:14 p.m. In terms of the number of passengers, last night the ship was the busiest yet during all the time I have worked on here. As such the piano bar was extremely busy throughout the evening, with people even stood up waiting for tables at one point!! There was a group of Germans in from the night before, sat in the same place, who were listening attentively and helped things along. Despite the numbers it took a while to get the audience going, but I managed it eventually, playing a few more up-tempo numbers during my last set. I had a stream of requests as well, one of which was for With Or Without You which I played for the first time, and earlier I also performed Sunny Side of the Street which I hadn’t performed before, both went down well.

A few times recently when I have been on deck at night during the outward crossing from Hull, I have noticed a line of evenly-spaced red dots on the horizon. For a while I thought they might have been radio masts, but having done some research and seen a feature on a recent television programme, I think they are actually wind-turbines, at the Scroby Sands wind farm, off the Norfolk coast.

I haven’t been able to see anything on the horizon in Europort today, as like the last time we were in port here the on Friday, the whole place has been shrouded in thick fog.

Wednesday 29th October 2008

5:15 p.m. Sunday night went well, it was fairly steady with people coming and going throughout the evening, and my last set was probably my best, as there was a large group sat behind me who were singing along to some of the songs. I had some nice comments from various people afterwards too.

Monday night too was good, it was busy all evening, nothing really outstanding to report but it was a pleasant evening with a good atmosphere in the bar and several requests. Last night went fairly well, slightly lacking the vibe of the night before, but there were several couples and groups who were in for almost the whole evening, singing along to some songs and making requests. The weather contributed to the atmosphere, as another thunderstorm loomed overhead during my second set and remained there for well over an hour, and the view was fairly spectacular from the panoramic view of the Sky Lounge.

Not only is it Hallowe’en on Friday but it is also the first of a two-night themed mini-cruise, during which, in additional to the usual entertainment schedule, a pair of illusionists and the 70’s pop-rock band Sweet (mostly known for their hits ‘Ballroom Blitz’ and ‘Blockbuster’) will be performing. It was due to feature glam-rockers Slade (with a different front-man) but they have pulled out at the last minute.

Only three more round-trips to go now.

Thursday 30th October 2008

4:10 p.m. Despite it not being quite as busy, last night very well, one of the few evenings that seemed to flow nicely. I had several requests from various people from the start until the end. The weather played a part again, ironically as soon as I had begun to play ‘I Can See Clearly Now (the rain has gone)’, a torrential downpour ensued! (Although obviously it didn’t affect my performance in any way, apart from the noise of the rain falling on the roof.) During my last set, one older couple who had been in most of the evening (gradually succumbing to the effects of copious amounts of alcohol) requested and were singing along to Bridge Over Troubled Water (albeit a slightly jazzed-up version), and also asked for Blueberry Hill, which I didn’t know, so I managed to get a copy of it today and learned, and I am going to play it for them tonight. Also, the woman from another couple who were in most of the evening jokingly requested Piano In The Dark by Brenda Russell, so I played a bit of it despite not having the words or the music. They slow-danced to Angels, then were joined by the other couple as I played my last number, My Way.

Apparently, Sweet have now pulled out as well, and Boney-M are due to be coming in their place. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see whether they actually make it or whether some other act turns up!

Friday 31st October 2008

10:53 a.m. Last night went fairly well despite my playing and singing being slightly under par. There were a few people in from the night before, including the couple that I mentioned, and I played Blueberry Hill for them, which I thought went pretty well considering I only learned it a few hours previously! I also played my own arrangement of Careless Whisper for the first time for another couple, which seemed to go down very well.

the mother ship

Monday 20th October 2008

5:00 p.m. Last night wasn’t the most outstanding night I have had recently, although there were a few couples and groups of people sat nearby who were making requests and helped to make the evening a bit more fluid. During my last set I played a couple of songs that I hadn’t played for a while, namely Walk On By and A Million Love Songs. During the former, a small group were passing through and clearly decided to stay because they recognised it and began to sing along.

Wednesday 22nd October 2008

4:48 p.m. Monday night was fairly quiet, although there was a group of blokes who I assumed to be drivers, sat nearby for most of the time who were listening and making a few requests. I made a point of playing several numbers that I hadn’t performed for a while, such as Song For You, Baker Street, Englishman In New York and Ebony and Ivory, as well as two numbers that I had never performed with vocals before, namely Sailing and King Of The Road, which seemed to be the most popular with the audience. The sea was very rough for the first few hours of the crossing, so predictably, despite gaining an hour, most people went to bed early.

Last night was far from being the best, I had an almost apologetic response from the audience, which wasn’t helped by a large group of drunken youths staggering into the bar half-way through my last set, marauding around the piano. I don’t think they were expecting me to stand up to them though and they soon left. After that, I allowed a young couple to take to the stage, and they played a song that they had written, which had some innovative chord progressions and was certainly better-received than what followed – a rather disjointed solo performance of Angels by the lad of the couple. I wrapped up the evening shortly after that.

Saturday 25th October 2008

11:15 a.m. The last few nights have been better. Wednesday night started off busy but got quietier as the evening went on. There were two older gentlemen (one German, one Irish) sat nearby throughout the evening who were listening and making requests, and afterwards they questioned me eagerly about my musical background! Also, Johnny Higgins, who was Ent’s Manager back in the days when Mathias was working on the Rotterdam, was on-board for a round-trip.

Thursday was very busy, more like a weekend, and as such I had a good response from the audience. Last night was still quite busy but not like the previous Friday, nevertheless it was a good night, and there were a couple of groups of Germans who stayed in until I had finished, and were appreciative. Also in the bar mid-way through the evening was the Captain!

The other day while I was on my way out of the Seafarer’s Mission (where I still tend to spend a lot of my time when we are docked in Hull), this picture on the front page of July & August’s ‘The Sea’ magazine caught my eye, it was an artist’s impression of what a future cruise ship could look like. The full article can be found here [in PDF format].

Open Mic in the Sky Lounge

Thursday 16th October 2008

5:12 p.m. The last couple of evenings were very busy. Tuesday night was probably my best at sea so far this year, one of the rare occasions where I seemed to become the main source of entertainment, as most of the socialising passengers appeared to gravitate towards the top deck rather than the show-lounge. The effect of this was an exceptionally vibrant atmosphere, and at first I had to turn up the volume and partially open the lid of the piano just to be heard, but having done so, I soon won over the audience and had an excellent response throughout the whole evening. A large group of Dutch students were scattered around the room, who were requesting a lot of songs, most of which were quite up-beat numbers, e.g. Clocks, This Love, plus High and Dry (which I played later on), none of which I perform very often. Also, a couple who had been in the night before requested Against All Odds the night before, so I played for them during the last set (having brushed up on it earlier in the day) and it was well appreciated.

Last night was also busy but didn’t quite have the same atmosphere, a lot of the same Dutch youths were in but they were making quite a lot of noise as the evening drew on. Nevertheless it was still a good night, there were several couples and groups who stayed until the end. I played Tiny Dancer and Yellow for the first time in quite a while as well. I had loads of requests again, including some rather obscure ones; a song by Limp Bizkit for example, from some of the younger members of the audience, but I don’t think they were being entirely serious… and also several for ‘My Heart Will Go On’ to the point where it was becoming irritating.

I think a piano bar is an alien concept to some people who venture into the Sky Lounge, the other day, one man thought that he had to pay me to make a request, and didn’t seem to understand when I tried to explain to him that I hadn’t yet learned the song that he asked for. I think he thought I was a walking juke-box, considering the range of requests I had just last night, that is an objective that I can only aspire to at the moment, and in the mean time, I’ll just do my best to learn as many of the most-requested songs as possible… and discard the most obscure ones!

Friday 17th October 2008

6:10 p.m. Last night was a welcome departure from the norm, in that half-way through the evening a four-piece folk band came and played a set (it hadn’t been pre-arranged, they were just en route from Holland to a music festival that is being held in Bridlington this weekend). Also afterwards a German girl came and played a couple of numbers. Both went very well. As a result I only ended up doing one and a half vocal sets, but it was nice to have a break and something different. There was a man there taking photos, I asked him if he would be putting any of them on-line and he said he would next week, and he gave me his web-address, so if he does indeed upload any from last night I will post the link on here. I took some bits of video on my phone as well, but the quality wasn’t great. Ask me if you want to see them.

Last night as we were leaving Europort a large thunderstorm rolled overhead, and after we had left the harbour I was on deck and although the sky above was clear and the moon was visible, I saw some spectacular lightning over the port only a few miles behind us.

Earlier this afternoon Chip (the resident DJ) treated Owen (the relief Ent’s manager), Jack (the children’s host) and myself to a Chinese buffet at a local restaurant, which made a nice change from eating in the crew mess…

Saturday 18th October 2008

4:58 p.m. Last night the ship was very busy, being an outward Friday night sailing from Hull (the first of two of my current contract), the Sky Lounge included. Again there was a large group of Dutch kids scattered throughout the bar, but also a good mix of older people, including a couple of groups who were sat nearby throughout the night who were listening and making several requests. Among the requests I played were Bright Eyes, Rocket Man and American Pie. The evening was flowing very well so I decided to carry on playing rather than taking a break at 10 o’clock, and I ended up playing right through until five to eleven, before returning at 11:15 for my last set.

Since going to the Chinese yesterday I have only eaten a piece of cake, two currant buns and a sandwich! But I will be going for dinner shortly though. As some readers of my blog will no doubt be aware, it is very rare that I will skip meals.

Sunday 19th October 2008

12:29 p.m. Last night was steady, still quite busy but the atmosphere was calmer. My last set was the best as there were a few groups sat behind me who were singing along to the songs and making requests. I had to decline an encore though, as I was having some problems with my voice.

various sightings

Wednesday 8th October 2008

11:40 p.m. I got back on the Rotterdam yesterday for a four-week stint, almost exactly two months after I left the ship at the end of my last contract. My first night went very well indeed, despite the ship not being especially busy there was a good number and mix of people in the Sky Lounge throughout the evening, the audience was amenable and I had several requests, including some during my first set which is quite rare. Played a few numbers which I hadn’t played for a long time, including California Dreaming and Suspicious Minds, which went down particularly well. I had two encores and many words of gratitude afterwards. A pleasant way to begin a new contract and more than I could have hoped for.

I saw a couple of familiar faces last night as well – one chap who was on the ship back in July, who I allowed to play a song, and another slightly older bloke who I am sure is a regular.

Tonight was a similar story to last night. Conversely there were more people in the bar this evening even though there were less on the ship in general. There were quite a few groups and couples in who I had seen last night, obviously doing a round-trip (or ‘mini-cruise’ as it is known).

As the weather was fine in Holland this afternoon I went out for a walk down the road. A couple of kilometres from the port I managed to find a long path that ran between an avenue of tall trees, which looked quite picturesque with the sun catching their early autumn hues. On the way back I saw a stationary freight train near the terminal which had just been unloaded of its goods, probably waiting to be loaded up again.

Saturday 11th October 2008

5:18 p.m. Thursday night went fairly well, there was a large group in for the best part of the evening who were singing along and requesting several songs. After they left, several people seemed to follow suit as it was very quiet for my last set.

Last night went quite well too, again there was a good mix of people in and the bar was still quite busy by the time I finished.

Yesterday when we were in Holland I was doing some practise and I noticed another strange craft progressing slowly down one of the channels towards the sea. I managed to get a few pictures of it, this is probably the clearest one. Looking at the height of the columns I would probably assume they were going to form part of an oil platform.



Monday 13th October 2008

12:02 p.m. Saturday night was a good night, busy as usual at the weekend with what seemed to be a largely German audience. There were several couples and groups in who stayed until the end of my last set. Also a few groups passing through who insisted on having their photo taken with me!

Last night went quite well despite it being one of those evenings where I seemed to be playing more background music rather than anything else. Nevertheless there were quite a lot of people in throughout the evening, and some people who were obviously enjoying the music. I played Neil Diamond’s ballad September Morn for the first time which was well appreciated.

On the subject of photos, during my most recent hiatus, my friend Sophie (one of the children’s entertainers or ‘hosts’ as they are now known) uploaded some photos from the ship to an album on her Facebook page, one of which features me playing and singing with some backing singers when I was on here back in July.



Also the other day when I was on my way to the Seafarer’s Mission (which these days is typically deserted since the introduction of crew internet access on the ferries) I noticed a large and well-seasoned cargo ship moored up by the old ferry terminal. I wonder where Ulaambaatar is!



1:33 p.m. Apparently it’s in Mongolia.