After the heatwave, we're ready for some autumn scare conditioning

BECAUSE I am now middle-aged, there is nothing I love more than spending an hour in a decent garden centre, preferably one with a home interiors section and a nice cafe.

- SUSAN LEE

I know. Don't judge me.

Anyway, there I was wandering around the scented candle display when I came across an entire wall dedicated to autumn and to Halloween.

There were pumpkins and scarecrows and mini skeleton bunting.

For a moment I wondered if I had been subjected to some kind of time slip, this being the first week of August, but no; social media informs me this is the trend known as Summerween.

Yes, you read that correctly.

It's a mash up of - allegedly - the best of summer and autumn. A chance, according to the articles I read, to 'put a spooky spin on warm weather gatherings, collide 'heatwave hedonism with gothic glam' and indulge in 'pre-Halloween festivities'.

Or, as I like to think of it, be taken for mugs by the shops.