So today my oldest and dearest friend Paul Hill turns 40.
I’ve known him since day 1 and throughout my 4 decades of life, he has always been there – good times and bad – making me feel loved, protected and never alone.
I know that sounds unbelievably gay [and I did once say if he was an attractive woman, I’d marry him] but he is an incredibly special and wonderful person.
Because 40 is a pretty significant age, I wanted to get him something special … something that showed him and told him how much he meant to me, how much I treasure his friendship, loyalty and humanity.
To be honest, it was quite hard to think of something because I wanted it to be unique – not something he’s had, or is likely to have in the future – so after much thought we [ie: me and Jill] came up with an idea we think is pretty cool, which is why if you buy today’s Nottingham Evening Post and turn to page 24*, you will find the following full page ad :
[Ignore the quality of the image, it’s a copy of a copy, the real thing is razor sharp]
To say I am excited to see his reaction is a massive understatement [it’s a bit confusing because I will have seen it by the time this post is up, however as I pre-wrote it, I didn’t know what it was at the time of writing] … though if he says he would have preferred the money, I’m going to shove it down his ungrateful gob, ha!
Happy Birthday my dear Paul … thank you for everything … you’ve done more than you’ll ever know, but don’t expect anything like this when we turn 50, this was strictly one-time performance, ha
*I know the day is almost over by the time you read this post, but I couldn’t risk him seeing it before he read the paper.
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UPDATE
So the Nottingham Evening Post found the whole thing so amusing that last night they did an interview with me about the idea and featured it on page 3 of the paper.
Yep … I guess that makes me Britain’s first Page 3 Male Stunna!
Fortunately their website doesn’t show the cheesy picture that accompanied the article but you can read it [along with the lovely comments] here.
Paul was absolutely gob-smacked.
I turned up [after buying all the editions from the local shop] at his work with a card and then casually dropped in that he should read an ad that is totally stupid. The smile on his face was sheer magic – even more so when he realised it wasn’t actually a mocked-up copy of the paper, but an ad that was going to appear in every edition of the day … but without doubt the best bit is the Nottingham Evening Post like the story so much, they are doing a follow up article tomorrow so we’re both being photographed later in the day.
It was expensive. It is ridiculous. But he is worth it and it’s gone better than I ever dared hope.
Happy Birthday Paul, hope the day continues to have [lovely] surprisies.