I’d been wanting to see Brian Cox live for quite a while when the tickets went on sale in late 2017. So I snapped up a couple for myself and Carol and eagerly awaited the date in February. Too eagerly, as it turned out – I’d got ahead of myself and the actual date wasn’t until February 2019.
When I first heard Arkells’ song Leather Jacket back in 2014 I added it to my “Indie & Alternative” playlist due to the quirky nature of it. Fast forward a few years and that track had been joined by a couple of their others on my playlist but I hadn’t actually taken the time to listen to everything they’d done.
That changed when I was listening to their latest album one morning and, after working through their back catalogue after it, I was impressed enough that I thought I’d check if they were touring. It turned out that they were both on tour and playing at King Tut’s in Glasgow just a few weeks later. I was surprised that tickets were still available for just £10 and snapped up a pair. Even though it was on a Sunday night, I couldn’t believe my luck!
It was this very week in 2008 that I moved into my current house, having taken a rental agreement on the property and hastily moving up belongings from the house in Liverpool.
Of course, I say “I” now, but back then it was very much “we”, with myself, Fliss and nearly 3 year old Elisha setting up home again as a family. In the six months since I’d made the decision to take a job back in Scotland, we’d been in a state of limbo making do with living part-time in the Liverpool house or cramming into the spare room at my parents’ place.
The old naval estate house in Graham Place felt spacious – bigger than our house in Liverpool, for sure. I considered it a good placeholder at the time. Something that would do to get us all back together but not somewhere I saw myself living long term before I was back on the property ladder.
Somehow, ten years have flown by and a lot of change with it. What I couldn’t have known back then was what an emotional rollercoaster it would turn out to be.