It’s over. That’s it then! Summer is over.

Barbecues will be consigned to the garden shed until next June and the Factor 20 will make way for The X Factor. Well, maybe not in my house….

You probably noticed we’ve just had the last Bank Holiday of the summer. It seems like we had over a dozen this year. I’ve never known a summer so jam-packed . . .

By the way, Jeremy Corbyn, there’s no such expression as ram-packed – with music festivals, comedy festivals, literary festivals, food festivals, cider festivals and family fun days. They were like London ‘buses – bright red and no standing on the upper deck. Just kidding!

If you missed one, there were at least three following on right behind it.

Even the dampest, muddiest festival featuring music acts that hadn’t had a hit since …since….err…Bob Geldof had one, attracted massive crowds. How do festival followers find the time to attend?

Don’t they have lawns to mow; hedges to trim; windows to clean; cats to de-flea?

And…dare I mention…work to go to?

In January, I think half the adult population of the U.K. took a look at their diaries for June, July and August and said “It’ll be difficult and it’ll take some organising, but I just might be able to squeeze in a couple of days work around my holidays and all the festivals!”

Call me an old curmudgeon….no, call me a young-ish curmudgeon…but I’ve always worked since I left school.

Like many of you I’ve had low-paid, boring jobs I loathed getting up in the morning for. However, I stuck to them because I was taught work came first.

Yes, there was always a little left for ‘weekend leisure pursuits’ (a few pints and maybe the pictures), but now the U.K. ‘night time economy’ is worth a staggering £80 Billion.

That’s a phenomenal amount of money spent in pubs and clubs by a vast number of people of working age, seven nights a week.

You can’t be out drinking ‘til three on a Tuesday morning and then get up for work, so how do they pay for their hangover?

As so many vacuous TV shows and magazines feature celebrities out on the town at parties and premieres, it feels we live in an era when having ‘fun’ is considered a higher priority than working.

You know, on second thoughts, maybe I am an old curmudgeon.