Time Wasted
Just over two weeks ago I arrived back in the UK from a three week contract at a hotel bar in Monaco. It’s always a nice change from the ships and as nearly everything work related went well, it looks like we’ll be working there a lot more than usual next year. Most nights were quiet but the weekends got crazy as always. Some nights we were bought enough drinks from guests to have a decent hangover the following day. All good news then. Except for the fact that it feels like I was only awake for about a quarter of each day.
I had it in my head that I’d drink less, eat healthier, do exercise and wake up earlier to do more touristy things. I quite enjoyed my last few days in Finland and Sweden when I was going out alone to visit places. It would have been nice to do the same thing in Monaco. Maybe take a train to Italy for the day. But the gig is just too tiring. For me anyway.
Even though we’re not playing six sets a night like on the boats, it still works out at only half an hour less work per night. I’d finish at 1:30am, go back to the Airbnb and make food before sleeping until around 3pm the next day. For me I find the work so draining that if I get up much earlier I feel horrendous through the rest of the night.
Food is provided by the hotel in the staff canteen, which is actually worse than the mess on the ships. The best time to be there is around 6:30pm so it leaves literally no time to do anything. It feels like I wasted so much time and it was a little depressing.
To be fair at this time of the year, Monaco isn’t looking its best. Preparations for the Grand Prix start three months before the race at the end of May and the place looks like a building site.
The tranquil sea and the yachts. And lots of scaffolding.
I like F1 and have followed it for years. Seeing all the infrastructure going up, like the podium just outside the automobile club, is fascinating. But when you’re staying in the area for any length of time, the scaffolding and noise of hammering and work gets old fast.
The podium seems to go up pretty quick.
One of the reasons for starting this blog was to give me something else to do and focus on. Another was that it might help me start enjoying music again if I was writing about this job. But I have so little motivation to do anything whilst working. It’s also taken so long to write anything since I’ve been back because I don’t really want to think so much about work at the minute. There are a few problems going on with our agent that are making it so future plans have to be put on hold for the moment.
There has been a few good things happening recently though. We had new promo recorded and the singers made more of an effort to talk with guests at the venue. The result was a lot of interest and some bookings for private parties already. Considering our next contract isn’t until September since we dropped the ships, this has made everyone feel a little more relaxed.
Another positive for me was that we played with a new guitarist. He’s a great player who plays the kind of jazz I used to listen to and aspire to play growing up. For the first set we’d do a trio thing, playing background music during the aperitif. Whereas I’d normally play maybe one bass solo a week, I was suddenly having to do four or five in that first set. Whilst it was a real struggle as I am so out of practice, it did make me want to take my bass back after work and practice for the first time in over ten years. I actually enjoyed playing music again! Unfortunately as we were staying up a steep hill in Beausoleil above Monaco, there was no way I was going to cart my bass back in its heavy flight case each day. But I’m certainly looking forward to September now.
All in all, things are looking up. Although there’s still enough uncertainty about the future that some plans will have to wait for now, the negatives do at least give me something to write about, as maybe our experiences can help others before they also make some bad choices! I just need to make more of an effort to get the laptop out. If however the northern English weather stays as good as it is now, I’ll probably be out playing golf instead.
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