Sea Day/Trondheim

July 13th-14th
Sea Day/Trondheim

The 13th was a usual sea day, except that night was a little different from the usual guest performance. Instead, both bands on the ship were combined to make a big band (or close to) and we played a couple hours of big band dance music. I was excited simply because it’d be something different and I haven’t played in a big band for a while, so I was looking forward to hearing that sound again. Unfortunately, it got off to a bad start. The music director has a communication method here on the ship which involves placing memos on your door when something changes. There was a memo for tonight’s show to be there 30 minutes early…that I didn’t get. Gordon had been working hard all day putting together charts for the evening show, and among the piles of charts around the room, he had misplaced the memo. So I show up to the set all excited for something new only to find out I’m 15 minutes late for set up and have a whole pile of tunes to sort through and put in order, not to mention assembling my sax, flute and clarinet. I was able to get my horns out and a few of the tunes in order before we started, and then found more during long rests, and though I never did actually hold up the band, it wasn’t exactly preferred playing conditions. Then, as I expected, the music director had to ask me why I was so late, to which he doesn’t understand that it’s possible for memos on door handles to get misplaced. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly how I wanted the night to go. But seeing as I didn’t mess anything up for the band, I’m not going to worry about it
The 14th in Trondheim was a little more fun. I was able to get on a tour today that took me to the Lokken Mine and for a train ride on a “vintage railway.” The mine was interesting – a copper mine over 300 years old and just closed down in 1987. For the tour, everyone in the group got to put on hard hats and then proceeded into the mine where we had a short violin concert before making our way out. The concert was where a huge copper deposit had been dug out, leaving a perfect place for a concert hall (if you disregard the near freezing temperature and ubiquitous sound of dripping water). Anyways, the violinist played a few tunes on the makeshift stage and then the group slowly made it’s way out into sunlight again. It was actually a fun excursion, but then again, that’s probably just because I like the novelty of wearing a hard hat, regardless of where you put me.
The mine was followed by a vintage train ride through the area. I was excited for the train ride, but after 50 minutes of less than choice scenery observed from hard wooden benches in a crowded wooden box, I guess I changed my mind (sorry Uncle Steve). I did take a lot of pictures for all my train fanatic relatives, but I just simply can’t patronize the whole vintage train thing…maybe because they took my hard hat away.
But there was yet another problem that I was worried was going to get me in trouble. Trondheim was my in port manning day, meaning in order to get off the ship, I had to switch duties with a friend, which I did. It’s not like switching duties is hard, the only thing you have to do is stay on the ship, and my friend had no problem doing that. The only problem was that while I was gone, they had a surprise IPM drill in the morning, something they haven’t done once since I’d been on the ship. My buddy didn’t wake up for it. Now, the whole IPM thing is kind of ridiculous to begin with, but the ship takes it seriously and I wasn’t looking forward to the trouble I was about to get in when the music director found out my friend didn’t show up in my place. When I got back to my room, curiously, there was no note. Surely the word didn’t get out yet, so waited in anxious anticipation (maybe I’m over dramatizing this). Then came the schedule for tomorrow with a note at the bottom of it, “congratulations entertainment division for 100% IPM attendance.” Could it be he just never found out? Could I get that lucky? Then he knocked on my door, this was it… “Hey Mike, is Gordon around?” he asks. I say that he isn’t which he follows with, “Hey, you had IPM today, right? You showed up this morning, didn’t you?” Moment of truth. “Yeah, I was there,” I answer, obviously a flat out lie. He thanks me for my participation and leaves. I can’t figure out how I dodged that bullet, it really doesn’t make any sense at all because I know for a fact my friend slept through the drill, but somehow everything worked out – sweet.
Anyways, there’s a melodramatic account of my day in Trondheim, thanks for hanging in there through my attempt at a suspense post. Hopefully I can keep myself out of trouble from here on out! Thanks!