double drill dodging

Monday 1st December 2008

12:20 a.m. Thursday night was very busy and more like a Saturday than a weekday. It wasn’t the best night although later on in the evening there was a group of lads in who were singing along and requesting songs. Friday night wasn’t quite as busy, and I don’t think I played or sang particularly well, but even so there were seemed to be some people who were appreciative. I played a couple of songs that I hadn’t done for a while, namely King of the Road and Blueberry Hill, which went down the best. Last night was busy again, but again didn’t really flow well, although there was one family group in who seemed particularly attentive, one guy who I would assume to be about my own age was chatting to me on and off throughout the evening and requesting songs, and was very complimentary about my playing. Had a few other requests as well, including one for the dreaded Piano Man, which mercifully was the first time in about a week that I had been asked to play it.

Tonight was better in most respects. Firstly the bar was full right up until my last set (even by the time I had finished it was still busy). Secondly the atmosphere was a lot warmer, and the evening seemed to flow a lot better than others of late. And thirdly there was a good range of people in from different backgrounds and age-groups, and most of them were there from start to finish, which helped to make the evening mostly successful. Had a request for Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds which I don’t tend to play very often, and I also played I Want Love, All Of Me, Tiny Dancer and Sunny Side of the Street for the first time in a while.

I recently learned that next Friday they will be having their annual M.C.A. inspection on the ship, which will include a full boat drill (typically they take longer than usual because they are more meticulous), and on Thursday they are having a trial-run. Fortunately though I won’t be subject to any of the proceedings as I disembark on Wednesday – a narrow escape!

Yesterday in Hull there was an amazing sunset, and I got a few photos. As I haven’t included any sunset photos on here for a while, here is one of them.