I’ll keep it short because it was my birthday weekend and to be honest it was a bit of a haze.

I share my special day with Prince Charles and although we were born under the same star sign and at roughly the same time of day I am, of course, considerably younger than the next King, don’t go into the woods for a natter with the trees, don’t drink Dutch Brandy (you’ll have to be very old to remember the significance of that) or own half of Cornwall.

There is some similarity though in that I’ve been known to have long, animated discussions with myself, drink Orangeboom (Dutch, I think) and own a very small part of Whitstable.

It was the Orangeboom, or maybe the wine that was my undoing on Saturday night. Friends from far and wide popped in proffering gifts of an alcoholic nature which was a bit unfortunate as I’m not that big a drinker.

Maybe I was subconciously trying to drown my sorrows after the £530 bill I received during the week when I went to pick up the car from the garage after the clutch master cylinder failed the previous Saturday (as mentioned in last week’s blog).

It was the labour that did it, mainly because they had to remove the glovebox, all of the dashboard and wiring and the back half of the engine.

I had a Morris Minor in the late 1960s which had the same problem. I did it myself by undoing two bolts, replaced the perished rubbers, re-installed it and bled the system all of which took about 30 minutes and cost me all of 2/6d (22p).

I’ve come to the conclusion that car manufacturers these days work out which components will go first and deliberately hide those items in the most inaccesible places. The part wasn’t cheap either at £180+VAT and it was made of cheap plastic! The French never did like us much.

There’s some reasons to celebrate this week as kmfm gets out and about. Johnny Lewis will be in Canterbury on Thursday along with some cast members from this year’s Marlowe panto to switch on the Christmas lights in the Longmarket. Activities start at 2.30pm with the lights going on at 5pm and I will be in Herne Bay on Saturday to help turn on the town’s lights.

Fun and games start at 3pm and Emma Barton (Honey in EastEnders)will pull the switch at 5.15pm.

Local bands Electric River and Billy Wears Dresses will be playing live at both events. Look forward to seeing you there. Have a good week.

•You can listen to Bob weekdays on the kmfm breakfast show, 7am-11am.