Last night in the UK

This is weird. Very weird indeed. After a week in Manchester, where I grew up and still call home, I'm about to leave the UK. This is my last night as a resident of the United Kingdom, and for the first time in this whole process, I'm genuinely excited. Speaking to people up until now, everyone's said 'this must be so exciting', and my response has always been a dutiful 'yes, it is'. The truth, though, was always something different.

You see, the word isn't quite right. Excited is what you feel on your birthday morning. On Christmas Day. Unfettered positivity, happiness, joy etc. The feeling I've had isn't quite that - there's been lots of positive stuff, yes, about the future, the quality of life, the ability to finally settle, starting a very grown up life with the Kiwi, but along with all that was the sadness of leaving my family and friends here, of friendships that have just started and those that've lasted many years, and in particular putting distance in between me and my family, who mean so very much to me and on whom I depend probably more than they know.

This week has been one of saying goodbye to those people, and it's been painful in the worst way. Not the quick pain of whipping a plaster off, but a long, drawn-out ache, a week of catching people's eyes mid-conversation and both thinking the same thing, of last hugs that neither wants to end, of tears and the hope this isn't as final as it feels.

Tonight we're staying at Yoog's with his wife and son, as we have been for the past few nights. It's fantastic that we can spend this time having dinner with one of my oldest and closest friends, in such a calm, welcoming atmosphere, drinking brilliant wine and, from the smell of the cooking downstairs, soon to be eating excellent food. Tomorrow we drive to London, fly to Vancouver, and begin a phase of our lives we've talked about, dreamed about, and planned for for years.

Now I'm excited.

Elbow, Roundhouse, 11.10.08

I'm obviously a bit preoccupied at the moment - with all the stuff that's going on at the moment I'd totally forgotten to tell you about the brilliant Elbow gig on Saturday night. What a perfect (almost) evening.

I'm fast becoming a fan of the Roundhouse, generally the sound's great and it rarely feels that full, either through great capacity management or tardis-like architecture, I'm not sure. Weirdly, their normally dull beer selection was complemented by the addition of Sagres, which we'd just been drinking in Nandos down the road. Little things like this help, I find.

They were supported on the night by Jesca Hoop, who I suspect is really quite good, and judging by some of the streaming tracks on Last.FM, I think she probably is. Unfortunately her delicate voice combined with the relative lack of interest from the crowd meant she was more or less inaudible, and as she only played a handful of tracks (including a duet with Guy Garvey) I'm not sure she didn't wander off out of sheer annoyance. Poor lass, I thought she could've been great in the right circumstances.

The main event then. The Kiwi made a great point at the beginning about how good the sloping floor in Brixton Academy is, in that you're more likely to be able to see (especially for her, she's ickle), and this was one of my two criticisms of the venue. The opening track was spoilt slightly by us shuffling around trying to get somewhere we could stand next to each other and still see, which depended largely on a very specific configuration of people of certain heights going all the way forwards to the stage, so it's safe to say it didn't really happen.

The band, without exception, were tremendous. Opening with 'Starlings', complete with a trumpet wielded by each band member (whether mimed or not, I don't care), they had the audience grabbed from the word go (or in this case 'How'). By the second track, the bloke next to me singing at the top of a voice so flat it had canals was getting to be too much, so we moved to the middle back, and better sound.

On that note, what amazed me throughout was the quality of the sound, and the preciseness that they got in playing almost note-for-note versions of the tracks we were all so familiar. There's a time and a place for innovation and so on, but a band at Elbow's stage in their career and with their sort of fanbase, should know that they're not going to get away with Jazz Odyssey: we want to hear what we've got on our stereos, just louder and in real life.

And that they delivered. Unusually, one of my favourite tracks of the night was one which didn't really grab me on the record; "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver", which Guy really seemed to enjoy and absolutely took it by the scruff of its neck. It's great to hear a proper Manchester accent in song - a friend of mine once mentioned how much she loves hearing regional accents on singers, and I have to agree. Not only is it so... honest, but it gives the work a sense of place, and much like terroir in wine terms, embraces its origins. One other track stood out, but you'll have to come to our wedding to hear more about that one.

On a final note, whilst writing this, my iTouch has been in an unusually capricious mood. I've had it on a Genius playlist it's built around Elliott Smith's perkily scornful 'Somebody That I Used To Know', and it thought to include Ben Folds' slightly mawkish but still touching 'Late', his posthumous tribute to Smith. It's a bit like a Spielberg film, in that it's a bit cheesy and predictable, but in such a way that you can't fail to be moved by it. The 25th and last track is Fleet Foxes' gorgeous 'Ragged Wood', which reminds me that we're going to see them in November and it promises to be an amazing night.

70s food, Kiwi-less, plans

Oh hilarious. I'm watching, as I have been doing every Tuesday evening for a few weeks now, 'The Supersizers Go...' with Giles Coren and Sue Perkins. This week, it's the 70s, and it reminds me quite how much I really like prawn cocktail. I remember having it at my eldest sister's wedding when I must've been all of five, and thought it was about the most exotic and brilliant thing I'd ever had. It was served with buttered brown bread, out of which I made a prawn cocktail sandwich. Classy.

I still make it, if the truth be known, with my own marie rose sauce and big fat tiger prawns - and it's still ace.

Anyway, childhood food aside, I'm writing this stretched luxuriously out on the sofa, as the Kiwi's in New York this week, generally attending numerous parties and watching films, I think, damn her, and so here I am, all by my self. She's back on Friday, which at this point is seeming very far away indeed.

My weekend was spent back in Manchester, which was brilliant - catching up with the folks and the family Yoog, then back to London on the Sunday night for drinks with my old housemate which were probably more enthusiastic than they should've been; Monday morning was a bit of a challenge.

I do have a bit of news for you all. The kiwi and I have been thinking about it for a while, but we've decided for definite to move to New Zealand. In about six months' time. Scary stuff, but massively exciting too. We'll go via Manchester for a week (early Christmas), then Canada, snowboarding, then Australia for a bit of time with the folks, then NZ for New Year. And then back to reality with a crash...

More on this later, but I wanted to let you all know. Funny, I started this blog to document some work-related changes in my life, but I guess the changes will be a little more wholesale than that.

In other news, Nick Drake has been in my headphones a great deal of late, what terrifically brilliant lovely stuff it is too. All three albums, in sequence, at least once a day.

Christmas, NYE, back to work

And we're back. Following a week and a half's mental haring around Manchester I'm back in the office to relative normality. It's a bit of a slow day here today as you can imagine - the alarums and hysterics I'm used to on the first day back are apparently unique to retail. It seems this doesn't filter down to (or percolate up to?) agency level for a couple of days yet.

Christmas was lovely. Following a cautiously enjoyable Christmas party with work on the Friday (taking it very easy on the beer, leaving in time for the last tube, don't think I offended anyone) we drove up to Manchester, taking a full 5 and a half hours to do so. We stayed in a reasonably smart apartment in Ancoats, just behind Piccadilly station, sort of, which is real inner-city Manchester, in the first throes of redevelopment and feeling a bit like Shoreditch did a few years back. It's still distinctly edgy, with some of the old rag trade offices still open for business and some of the old alleyways still ripe for lurking in, but the tell-tale bars and cafes are starting to creep in, along with the posh apartments and new businesses with shiny nameplates proudly displayed outside.

Bouncing between our apartment and friends and family all week was great, so good to see everyone again and spend time with them over the week - just as nice to be able to retreat to our own space when we needed to. The Thursday in particular was one of these times; the Kiwi went shopping whilst I settled into a pub with a bit of Orwell and some decent northern bitter. Brilliant. My wonderful Kiwi had managed to find me a Wii for Christmas too, which has shamelessly made me fall in love with her even more, whilst at the same time ensuring that I'll pay her marginally less attention in future. Funny paradox, that.

And so back to London on the Saturday, leaving at 0700 and taking about 2 hours 40 to make it back, in stark contrast to the outward journey. We spent the afternoon with the Hatter and his family out in darkest Hampshire; he's getting married in 08 and as I'm to be his best man (hooray!) we thought it about time we met the rest of the brood, and a very happy man he must be, with three ridiculously cute and (apparently) well-behaved kiddies and a rather idyllic part of the country to call home.

New Year followed, with a small group of mainly Kiwis round at ours, me drinking unusually heavily mainly in order to numb the pain of a minor mutilation which occurred whilst preparing bruschetta (middle-class credentials firmly intact there). New Year's Day was spent almost entirely on the sofa with both of us alternately freaking out about returning to work and (mostly me) worrying about January's finances which, in the context of 2008's plans, are some way off course.

There we are then. New Year's resolutions? I don't normally, but here we go: more exercise, more reading of books, more saving of money, more earning of money, more ruthless career progression (hahaha), more wearing of good shirts. Less drinking (not sure about that one), less eating of the bad food, less procrastination, less chopping of fingers. Oh, and possibly the purchase of something shiny before too long. And that's all I have to say about 'that'.

.... and another thing...

I'm doing this a lot, aren't I? Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I've just seen the video to The Smiths 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' on TMF, which is a funny little channel that sometimes comes up with some intriguing stuff.

Anyway, as anyone who's ever spent any time in Manchester will know instantly, it's filmed around there (Salford, I believe). And it reminded me how much I love and miss that amazing city - even the boarded up council houses and dodgy industrial areas - there's a familiarity and a melancholy friendliness even in the rusting gasometers and crappy broken up roads. I did once plan to move back there one day...

On another note, the next video TMF served up was Adam Ant's 'Prince Charming', which instantly extinguished any longing thoughts of the north with 'By golly you're right Adam: ridicule is nothing to be scared of!'. It's been a funny old day.

Must... blog...

Very quick one, as falling asleep on keyboard. Somehow wearing self out without seeming to be terribly productive. Hotel was lovely, lunch today at Tate Modern was too (albeit rushed), going to Manchester this weekend hooray, only in Dublin for a day trip next Thursday hooray again, mind leaking out of ears due to uncontrollable heaving beast of a project - booooo.

More comprehensive stuff next time, promise. When I've had some sleep. And maybe some of that EPO stuff that gets cyclists to the top of hills. Should be able to get me to week 5, I reckon...