RICK JACKSON: My £100 bet that Pompey/Saints derbies will return next season

My bet is still on. Hampshire derbies to return next season!
Will these clashes return next season? Pompey v Saints in 2012.Will these clashes return next season? Pompey v Saints in 2012.
Will these clashes return next season? Pompey v Saints in 2012.

I took the challenge from a listener, a Saints’ fan, who thinks they will survive in the Premier League and we won’t make the Championship.

There is still a way to go, especially after our 3-1 defeat at Bradford on Tuesday, but with our draw away to promotion rivals Plymouth Argyle and Saints letting a two-goal lead slip against Chelsea to lose 3-2, I still think we’ve got some momentum and they have none.

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We’ve had the toughest 10 years in football. I think only Coventry City fans have more to moan about. Saints let success go to their heads, selling too many players.

P&O's MV AuroraP&O's MV Aurora
P&O's MV Aurora

I’m hoping this will be the easiest £100 I’ve ever won.

I’M CRUISING FOR A DATE WITH MY WIFE

The countdown is on for our summer holiday. We’ve booked a Mediterranean cruise on the P&O ship Aurora.

This may well be our last cruise in a while as Freddie starts school in September, so all future holidays will need to be out of term-time, unless we fancy a fine or a trip to the High Court.

P&O's MV AuroraP&O's MV Aurora
P&O's MV Aurora

We decided on a cruise because for us, this will be the all-inclusive holiday of justice! Not only a great holiday for the kids, but also for us.

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In the past couple of years, we’ve been lucky enough to stay in a friend’s villa on the Costa Blanca, but we realised it was like being at home, only with heat.

We still needed to go shopping, cook and clean and we came back needing a holiday. That’s when we decided it needed to be a cruise, as they have superb kids’ clubs on board.

We’ve heard stories of parents thinking they wouldn’t put their kids into the clubs, only to find the kids loved them so much they didn’t want to spend time with their boring old parents.

For us, this is worth its weight in gold. We can spend time with the kids in the morning, go swimming, having fun around the ship. Then put them into kids’ club for the afternoon while we sunbathe.

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In the evening they offer a free night nursery, where the kids can sleep, or you can take them to the slumber party.

You put them into their pyjamas after tea, they then chill out listening to stories or watching movies on giant bean bags. Many are asleep when you pick them up so this allows mum and dad to have a date night – a meal together, watch a show in the theatre or see a comedian.

With our holiday less than three months away, I’ve decided I need to lose two stones to stop the ship listing to one side when I get on.

Half a stone down, my incentive is new, smaller clothes to take on holiday with us.

HOVER GROUNDED BY SANDY SKIRT

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We’ve all heard about the wrong kind of leaves on the line or poor track conditions, but have you ever heard of sand stopping a mode of public transport?

That’s what Hovertravel had to deal with this week.

With one craft poorly, the spare older hovercraft, Freedom 90, was required. She’d been sitting at Ryde for a few days waiting until she was called upon. When she was, it was found she was too heavy to lift as sand had encroached on the rear of her skirt through many high tides.

It took crew, including the pilot, ages to scoop it all out.

They should have asked passengers if they had brought their buckets and spades.