I feel very proud of myself as I am now able to find my way back to my cabin without first visiting every corridor on deck 5. As I explained in my last post I was not expecting to have a tips bucket on the stage so the extra money is a surprise gift. The first couple of nights were quite in the bar but produced a heavy weight of coin and a few notes, I took these back to the cabin and emptied the lot into a carrier bag and thought not a lot more about it. Yesterday I was befriended by a group of Italian entertainers who showed me around Helsinki and spoke in English the whole time (which I thought was very nice of them), I accepted a Facebook friend request form Lorenzo and found that we had five mutual friends small World huh.
Last night the bar was much busier, I tuned up, had a quick sound-check and was about to start my first set when a very drunk woman came to the stage, smiled at me, then lay on the stage in front of me and immediately fell into a coma. Two Finish blonde female officers were quickly on the scene picked her up and carried her away, the drunk woman appeared to be repeating some of the lines from a 1960’s Donovan hit as she was carried away.
It was a good evening with lots of requests, I learned that in this area of the World Bad Company, Black Sabbath, The Doors and The Kinks are still very popular, so I was in my element.
At the end of the night I was accosted by a couple of punters (Herty and Gerty) who are reps on the boat for a conference, they were friendly but a little over refreshed, so I was very pleased when my new found Italian friends appeared with even more new friends (more entertainers). I was invited to join them at the Atlantic night club where a band continue performing until about 3pm. I grabbed my tip bucket to take it back to my cabin (en route to the club) and was a little disappointed to find it was much lighter than it was the previous two nights, but c’est la vie.
The band in the night club are just what is needed for that time of the morning, the dance floor is kept busy with drunk people entertaining the entertainers. After a while most of my entertainer friends decided to join the punters on the dance floor, this made the whole experience even more amusing, as initially there was a distinct separate area where the entertainers were dancing together, the rest of the floor remained a passengers area. However within minutes the professional dancers had attracted the attention of male passengers (who had previously been only “dance watchers”, but now they ventured onto the floor). Most of these guys were my age but believed that their “dad” dancing technique would attract the professional dancers (who were all probably younger than the dad’s daughters).
I was having a good time people watching until Herty and Gerty appeared, they were being followed by a couple of Russians who had also been at my performance earlier. Herty and Gerty had decided that the best way to loose their unwanted followers was to sit at a table with me. Boris and Karlov came and joined the table. Boris (who’s English was decipherable) told me that earlier in the evening he had given me a big tip and requested an Abba song but I had not sung it, Gerty translated for me. Boris showed me his watch (a Rolex) and a roll of American 50 dollar notes, he then gave minute long monologue in Russian. He ordered 5 ½ bottles of Champagne and Gerty told me one was for me.
As soon as the opportunity arose I escaped by going to join my entertainer friends on the dance floor, in an instant I realised I now looked like one of the predatory dad’s! I left the dance floor on the far side and went to the “New York’ night club, no live band but safer. I sat and watched the passengers on the dance floor and all was well. Thirty minutes passed and my Italian friends appeared so I had some company, 10 minutes later the pro dancers arrived followed by a hoard of drunk passengers including Herty, Gerty, Boris and Kalov. So in the words of Zebberdee “time for bed” and to write this blog.
Tomorrow I think a trip around Stockholm beckons.