Were you aware that ‘Easter is now the Second Christmas’?

No, me neither.

But, according to some of our major retailers, that’s how it’s now being marketed to the public in the hope we’ll spend, spend, spend almost as much as we do in the run-up to December 25th.

Having drained our bank accounts during the final few months of 2016, there are companies out there who believe they haven’t squeezed enough additional dosh out of us from New Year’s Day (cards); Valentine’s Day (cards, flowers, champagne, restaurant bookings); Pancake Day (indigestion tablets); and Mother’s Day (cards; flowers; Daniel O’Donnell CDs).

Even those of us who – weddings and funerals aside – haven’t been to church since we had our first swimming lesson in the font as babies, know Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, while Easter is when Christians remember his crucifixion and resurrection. Bible lesson for today over!

Yes, both festivals have pagan roots, but how can retailers connect them in such a crass, insensitive way?

Some years ago, out of the blue I received the first-ever card wishing me “Happy Easter” and I realised sinister ‘market forces’ were elbowing their way in to what shops and manufacturers saw as ‘untapped’ ways of making money.

Now, supermarkets are trying to convince us that we cannot possibly enjoy Easter as we always have – eating chocolate while watching “The Great Escape” – and we can’t do without what they refer to as ‘Easter Essentials’ like Easter cupcakes, Easter napkins decorated with daffodils . . . and, I kid you not . . . Easter crackers!

Well, they failed to convince me.

However it made me think that if the public really are that gullible I should capitalise on another ‘gap in the market’.

Look out for my new range of Phil Evans “Happy Wednesday!” greeting cards!