members updates

Hi all, hope you're all well. Struck me that it's actually Been a few years since we last had a new album and several since this site started up.

I'm thinking we will have a lot more activity on here for obvious reasons

So, why not give us an update... share three, four or more things that have happened or changed since last album.

My kids are growing up quicker than I imagined.. now 14 and 11
My bald spot has grown more than I wished
I changed jobs about two and a half years ago for the better
I now have a Labrador dog
I still drink wine on Fridays ;-)

Gosh, it has been a while!

Not a lot to report from me other than.....

I now have two stroppy teenage daughters (13 and 16).
I now work full time and feel part of the rat race once again.
I've recently discovered Foals, saw in Cologne back in November, been hooked ever since.

Can't think of much else other than life is good but ticking on at a pace!

Love the idea ChrissyBoy. :)Since the last album...

Got married to my amazing other half in May 2012 on our 7 year anniversary! Elbow featured heavily on our wedding soundtrack of course.
Working on our first sprog, due beginning of April. (Right around the new tour dates... tsk.)
Adopted two adorable and mischievous rescue kittens, now about 10 months old.
Changed jobs (and in fact, career) a year and a half ago and am much happier - less responsibility, more pay, and actually enjoying the work.

Kim wrote:

Love the idea ChrissyBoy. :)Since the last album...

Got married to my amazing other half in May 2012 on our 7 year anniversary! Elbow featured heavily on our wedding soundtrack of course.
Working on our first sprog, due beginning of April. (Right around the new tour dates... tsk.)
Adopted two adorable and mischievous rescue kittens, now about 10 months old.
Changed jobs (and in fact, career) a year and a half ago and am much happier - less responsibility, more pay, and actually enjoying the work.

Congratulations on your up and coming arrival, Kim. All the very best to you and your hubby!

Great idea!

At long last (after about 3 1/2 years) I have sold my house and should be moving in about 6 weeks. I can't tell you how less pressured that has made me feel.

The children are fab - Caitilin's on her second year at Bournemouth Uni and Oscar's just about to start GCSEs.

I'm obsessively teaching myself Greek and as soon as the sprogs have moved out, I intend to move over there - You'll all be very welcome to drop in!

I too still drink wine on Fridays!

glad to hear your updates - and congrats on your impending new arrival Kim!

@Lynne - feel your teenage pain, we just have to remember we were possibly worse lol.

@Ticky - can't be easy learning a new language.... as someone said "it's all greek to me"

Thanks guys! I am thrilled... not so much about the timing though lol. (Me? Priorities?)

Great to hear everyone's updates.

Well, all is good with me but it's been eventful to say the least!
As y'all know my house burnt down 2 years ago and I lost everything, including my poor 4 kitties who were stuck in the house...  
We weren't home at the time and no humans were hurt but it was very, very traumatic!
Thanks to the kindness of my fellow Elbowies (espesh Mr+Mrs Woman and Ticky) I was able to rebuild quite a bit of my Elbow collection - I will be forever grateful!   
In the meantime I have been adopted by a couple of (stray) cats (I have six now, how did that happen?  ) and a beautiful yellow labrador, a golden oldie rescue dog, whom I love to bits!
I finished my job just before Christmas, having worked for a psycho for a number of years  but decided enough is enough!
Since then I have spent my days baking, walking the dog, cooking, trying to become a vegetarian (argh, it's hard!) and listening to Elbow on loop (ok, just the past week for that last one!  )
I have something lined up for February but not sure if I will actually take it up as I am planning to spend more time with my parents in Holland.  My mother broke her back last year (yes, it's been fun times!) and she has recently progressed to crutches but she still needs quite a lot of support.
Other than that, I can honestly say that things are really looking up and I have been in great form this past while; my 12 yr old son is doing brilliantly in school (I am pushing him hard to become a rich, ehm, whatever, so he can look after me in my old(er) age!) and.. (those of you of a nervous disposition look away now) my love-life has improved 100%, wahey!   
Been to quite a few gigs last year and have rekindled my love for Depeche Mode and looking forward to seeing the Elboys in action again.
Pfew!   
Anyway, that's my tale of woe...
So nice to hear all your updates and that everybody is doing well.
Still think an Elbow fan-day should happen!!!   
@ Ticky: congrats on selling the house and fair play to you for learning a new language!
@ ChrissyBoy: thanks for the great idea and don't worry about that bald spot; it don't matter!
@ Lynne: Wow, good luck re-joining the rat race! Glad to hear you're still gigging away!
@ Kim: Congrats on adopting the cats, the nuptials and the baby. Sooo happy for you!

And yes, I too partake in a small glass of wine of a Friday   

Jones

I can't believe it's  over 5 years since I joined the forum and heading towards 5 years since I first met some of you. Happy memories of an Evening With Guy Garvey, my first appearance on The Culture Show  , The Britons Protection and the Halle Orchestra gig. (July 2009......Time moves on too quickly!)

Sorry to hear about the woes Jones but it sounds as if there's a lot of happy times in there too and that things are looking up now.

Anyway, I'm now in my early 50's which, whilst not great for street cred, is an inevitable and welcome consequence of being in my late 40's when I signed up here.

Our 3 children are all "grown up" and making their own way in life but we are still close and still see a lot of them which is good for me and mrs sparky.
We have 2 lovely grandchildren, Isla (3) and Callum (1)
More salt than pepper in my hair
Still buying music (all sorts) and getting to gigs (Kloot, Bramwell, Cherry Ghost, Hoop, Willy Mason and Edwyn Collins stand out).
Looking forward to the new Cherry Ghost, Jesca Hoop "Hunting My Dress - Undressed" and obviously elbow records over the next few months.
Our last few hols have been Greek Island Hopping and we'll be doing it again this year. We've done over 20  islands now and I'm ashamed to say Ticky, that I only know the basics of the language   

Best wishes to you all, whether we have met in the real world or on here. I hope you are all well and good to hear from you

ChrissyBoy, this was a lovely idea - thanks for this thread! You're right, it HAS been ages and it's good to hear about how y'all are doing. BTW, I'm right there with ya (and with you, Lynne) on the whole "Jeez how did these kids grow up so fast" thing. Mine's now a teenager and she's a good kid, but, y'know...teenager-y.  Or as Lynne put it, stroppy. Which basically means her face permanently looks like this:  I'm sooooo over it!   

@Kim - congrats, so happy for you and much luck with the young'un! I saw on the "Wanted" thread that you're looking for a Newborn babygrow, hope you manage to track one down! All the best-dressed babies will be wearing them this spring, you know!

@Ticky - Hiya dude!   Glad to hear you're on a good path, leading to Greece - how exciting! If you ever need to practice living in a sunny place before you do move over there, remember that you're always welcome here! And I'm happy the kids are doing well, too. Please say howdy to them for me!

@Jones - Oh, you sweet thing, you've been through SO much!  I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles but so happy that you seem to have landed on your feet. Sending you big hugs from over here and wishing for only the best for you, I reckon you're due for some good luck right about now! And good luck with the veggie thing, I've been mostly meatless (only the occasional seafood meal for me) for quite a while now. If you ever need to hit someone up for recipes, you know who to call!   

@sparky - Awww, grandchildren! Must be wonderful! Though I'm OK with having just the daughter for now, and the grandma thing can wait a wee while yet!   

So, life here is busy but good. My kid's as mad about music as I am and she's just started learning guitar, after taking drums and voice for a few years. She's now old enough to be my concert buddy, and we've gone to several shows and one awesome festival over the past couple of years. Having lots of fun with her despite her debilitating condition (i.e. being a teenaged girl).

I'm working at home when there is work to be had, and the rest of the time I'm driving the kid to some appointment/social engagement/school function or another. Going to shows when I can, reading some good books (just getting started with a Jim Henson bio, and just finished a few decent graphic novels and an essay collection from David Foster Wallace), and watching some good movies (most recently I saw a great Big Star documentary, and the Spike Jonze film Her. Oh boy oh boy, did I ever love that film!). And other than that, not much else to report! So nice to see what's up with you all and now that the Elboys are back on the scene, I will hopefully get to check in with you more often. I've missed y'all!  

Well.......since BARB, been in a 2 year relationship with a girl who's taught me loads on old music and I've bored her to death with my obsession on all things Manchester bands !

Don't get lots of time to myself due to work, overtime, spending time with my ace 7 year old and my diary is my BIBLE.

Still getting to my fair share of gigs though and started to try and get myself fitter - since I turned 40, I can 'tell the difference', shall we say ! Other half's a great cook though and doesn't make it easy !

Currently, as I type I'm indulging myself in my new cafetiere and listening to John Grant.

Nice idea for a thread, ChrissyBoy !

thanks all, nice to see you are all glorying on and sorry to hear about any downs - but pleased there are lots of ups too !

Jones wrote:

Well, all is good with me but it's been eventful to say the least!
As y'all know my house burnt down 2 years ago and I lost everything, including my poor 4 kitties who were stuck in the house...  
We weren't home at the time and no humans were hurt but it was very, very traumatic!
Thanks to the kindness of my fellow Elbowies (espesh Mr+Mrs Woman and Ticky) I was able to rebuild quite a bit of my Elbow collection - I will be forever grateful!   

Jones

Oh gosh! I did not know that!   Do you need a copy of that nice photo of Guy and you, you have sent me back in 2008 for Christmas?

ticky wrote:

I'm obsessively teaching myself Greek and as soon as the sprogs have moved out, I intend to move over there - You'll all be very welcome to drop in!

Aww! Do you have a special area in mind yet? I know a lot ex-brits in my fave holiday area and sometimes I wish I could stay there too from Autumn to Spring but because I have to work until I'm 67 to get my full retirement salary I just have to keep my free days together to be at least for 3 weeks there

Anyway, a lot things changed in my life too. Since October 2013 I live again in the green southeast of Berlin because I was so sick of the greyness of Berlin's downtown, that I almost had a nervous breakdown in that dark and way too long Winter 2012/2013.
Now I rather drive an hour to work because I lived in the suburbs for so long, I just need woods and lakes in walking minutes distance. And funny enough, that downtown-area had not a single good party location for people older than 20 and where I live now there are so much locations, that I sometimes don't know which one to choose!! 
And now my parents live again close to me, and it feels a lot better to know, that we can help each other faster, when there is not 30 kilometres between us. My dad has been ill and after all, they are not getting younger, though they are still more sportive than me  
I look forward to springtime... 

Hi, TL!
Thank you so much for your kind offer but thankfully I had uploaded that one online so, pfew, I still have it!
So great to hear you are happier where you are now, downtown Berlin did seem very grey to me!
And yes, living closer to your parents is so much better!
Enjoy the 20+ nightlife!
Lovely to get your update and happy to hear you are well!
Joanie x

Hello all  sorry I started a new thread before I found this one.  I'm still living in America, but in the bizarre way that life works, I fell in love with a chap back home and we're getting married in September.  Hopefully I can manoeuvre a job back home too before the wedding!

Joanie, so sorry to hear about your house and kitties, but glad that you are ok and life is back on track.  Kim, double congrats, must be any day now?

Waving to everyone, but sad not to see many of you in Leeds tonight.

Thanks, Hilary and congrats on the wedding!!!    

Brilliant news Hilary!! Great to hear from you - how are the wedding plans coming along? The wedding will be back in the UK I take it?

Our little one arrived on 3rd April, I've just gotten around to putting a little post and some pics up on the 'Something to celebrate' thread.