The date no man should ever forget, if he values his life '“ Rick Jackson

Thing is, as a typical man, I'm not really bothered too much about my birthday any more. The numbers get bigger and that's about it.

But for Sarah, and I'd imagine most women, it's different.

Given that her birthday fell on a Monday and she still had to do the school run, the weekend was where I needed to step up.

Firstly, the weekend lie-in. Both days.

I get up with the kids at 6am and get them sorted. By 9.30am Sarah is awake. I'm in her good books. I'm up at 4.30am every weekday so that, I suppose, is a lie-in for me anyway.

Next, flowers. With a tight family budget these days, something pretty from Tesco will have to do. I'm losing points now aren't I?

At least I remembered to get her a birthday card from the kids so I'm convinced that she will love the Mummy Pig card as she too has to '˜endure' Peppa Pig.

But what do you buy the girl who has everything?

I know she wants some new boots but it really isn't my field of expertise. I'd get it all wrong and it would be a disappointment and a complete waste of money.

A trip to Winchester with my beloved will sort this out. It's a lovely place to spend a few hours shopping with lunch thrown in. I remind her of the budget.

My heart starts to beat very fast when she notices The Ivy has opened a brasserie. Ouch, this is going to be expensive. It wasn't, phew!

She walked into a small boutique and found some beautiful boots. I looked at the price. Someone pass me a defibrillator.

They didn't have her size and she found a pair she liked in M&S that were £40. That's better. But I've lost all points now haven't I?

I redeem myself. '˜There's more in the budget if you want,' I said. She bought the more expensive ones.

Now to save for Christmas'¦

DJ-ing on the fly makes my life so much more exciting

I'm DJ-ing this weekend. In fact, I'm away at Shorefield Holidays' sites in Dorset as the radio station is taking over both sites.

I've moved away from CDs and now it's all about the laptop.

With 11,000 songs on my hard drive, there are loads to choose from.

I like to do it old school. I never put a setlist together or pre-programme mixes. I like to suss the crowd and go with the flow. It makes it so much more exciting and the time goes much quicker.

I also don't want to be caught out like some other radio DJs have in the past. There is nothing worse than hitting the play button and then having nothing to do for three hours except pretend to mix!

The Yanks are coming, as the '˜special relationship' goes on

The Yanks are back! This weekend more than 5,000 American sailors will descend on Portsmouth as their massive aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman anchors off Stokes Bay again.

Too big to enter the harbour, she will make an impressive sight for many who park along the seafront to get a look. Great news for the Gosport Ferry and Blue Funnel Cruises too, who will be offering cruises and running shuttle ferries to and from the ship.

It's also good news for the economy. Being a dry ship, how much beer can all those sailors drink? Great news for Gunwharf Quays and Guildhall Walk bars.

It's great we get regular US Navy, visits confirming our special relationship continues.