In an attempt to buy the Inflatable Boat before Christmas - I have a New Sale Price

That is a terrible headline - it makes no sense at all, every book price is a sale price - yer loosin' it Pat.

I had one of those birthdays over the weekend and apart from the family no one wished me well.

A lot of people know the date, well my phone company does, and last year wished me Happy Birthday. My bank knows - Nada. My Hospital as well, and my doctor - no wishes from either of them.

It's amazing in Ireland now when you ring the health service and other service providers, before you have the last syllables of your name out - they are barking Date Of Birth. I think this personal information is protected by Data Protection as personal data , and that some other reference code or number should be used instead.

The present system is just a lazy attempt at record keeping. After all, who would forget their birthday, like the so-'n-sos forgot mine. But more importantly, is there any chance another person with my surname would have been born on the same date as me. It's unlikely. Anyway I will discuss that with my brother and sister - The Triplets people call us - when they are being civilised.

One of these days I will tell them I don't know the date - as I was hatched from an egg.

But anyhow, as we say over here my book In The Wicker Wood Where Secrets are Buried has had a price decrease.

It's now $3.00 for the Kindle and $5.00 for the Paperback, UK prices are £1.99 and £4.99 and in Ireland and the rest of the EU, depending on what VAT rate is applied , it  should be around €2.99 Kindle, and €3.99 for the Paperback.

Great value for a good book - not a great book, (as Eamon Dunphy - a minor TV personality over here - he also played soccer - might say), but the reviews mention that it's a good book.

As to my birthday I wanted a song request played on The Ronan Collins show on RTE - George Burns singing "I Wish I was Eighteen Again."