I KNOW retailers live in a separate time zone from the rest of us, and Halloween regalia has been in the shops since August. I know Christmas cards and Advent calendars are on shops' shelves.

But I still could not believe my eyes as I passed Debenhams in Davygate, York. It had a big red poster covering its windows, which said: "Please excuse us while we dress our Christmas window". What?

Here is my favourite time warp story. A couple of years ago, on December 20, I went into a large DIY store to get some spray that stops pine needles falling off real Christmas trees. Unable to find it, I approached an assistant.

"It's no longer on the shelves," he said loftily, adding, in the tone one might use to a very small and confused child, "I think you'll find that most people have moved on from Christmas by now."

No wonder, if they started in September.

Jane Roberts,

Irwin Avenue,

Heworth,

York.

Updated: 09:43 Friday, September 30, 2005