Ahoy there! I think halfway through my contract is a good time to blog- I'm definitely getting cabin fever. Just kidding... though Johnny is affectionately known to the crew as the vampire on deck 5 because he never gets off the ship, prefers the windowless cabin (go figure) and while the rest of us are gently catching the Scandinavian sunshine he is paler than when we got here,
Regardless, its great to be back on board working for Viking Line Cruises again. This blog is probably a little more personal than usual as being onboard a ship for the entire summer doing the same three shows does get somewhat repetitive... so I'll tell you about everything else.
We arrived onboard on the 10th June, and awoke on the 11th in Helsinki harbour. There was a knocking on my door at 7am and Camilla and Nicke had brought me birthday breakfast in bed and presents! (Best shipmates ever!) Then when we docked we all raced off the ship and onto another for a trip to Suomenlinna (a fortress island guarding the small harbour side of Helsinki) we found a beautiful coastal edge and they had packed a picnic for us all complete with Swedish strawberries. I fed a little bird from my hand as it was so friendly... so friendly that it bit me. It really was a wonderful birthday and we got back on board to perform our first show of the season that night.
The shows this year are different, its totally different being the daft character as well which I have to play alongside Johnny whereas last year I took the serious role and Steph being a kids entertainer went for the bubbly louder than life half of the act. This year we took the cardboard box illusion and that went down a storm every time, they really seemed to get on board with it (excuse the pun) especially after the high energy of my tennis racquet routine,
The route had changed a lot this year giving us a lot more time at sea and a lot less time on land, our days in Stockholm I lived for- stretching my legs and feeling the solid ground beneath my feet again. The new sailing schedule seemed to affect the crew a little so we put on some private crew shows for them, using whatever we could find on board to recreate some of our sideshow acts from home. Turns out Swedish nails are all square not round... interesting for blockhead. The shows were really popular, even the captain Stefan came to watch!
Its been amazing to catch up with my friends over here, magicians on shore like Tom Stone, and the crew- Yvonne, Camilla and others who make the job so much more fun, and the new people like Cassandra and Henka who have been lovely to get to know. Here's some photos so far, were home in August and its no rest for the wicked. Two days after we leave here we're back at Blackpool Tatcon and then a day later I am off to perform in South Korea! (it seemed like it would never happen when I agreed to it... now its almost here! Its very surreal)
Moi Moi, off to watch another perfect sunset (which never actually ends this time of year)
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