THAT’S DAFFY!
Daffodils are blooming and the shops are stocking Easter eggs
THE decorations are still up and the kitchen is strewn with leftovers and half-eaten selection boxes.
And although we haven’t yet seen in the New Year, it seems the next holiday has already arrived... three months early.
With daffodils already springing up and chocolate eggs on the shelves, it feels disturbingly like Easter is just around the corner.
Unseasonable weather has thrown nature off course this winter – after a clutch of the yellow flowers, which usually bloom in March or April, was spotted in Torquay, Devon.
And they were not the only surprise appearance this week – after horrified shoppers discovered Easter eggs stacked on supermarket shelves more than 100 days before they’ll be eaten.
Co-op’s range of chocolate eggs appeared just two days after Christmas celebrations ended in stores including in Edinburgh, Nottinghamshire, and Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Shopper Charlotte Donnelly, 33, said: ‘It’s like the shops are wishing our lives away. We had Christmas preparations from September onwards and now we’re all just recovering from that we’re being made to think about April already. ‘It’s ridiculous.’ Sarah-Jane Hope, who was confronted with a similar sight at a Co-op in Edinburgh, wrote: ‘My local shop has #easter eggs in and it’s not even #2020 yet!’
Similarly, Alleena Coupe took to Twitter to congratulate Scotmid on its ‘forward planning’ after spotting Easter eggs on sale in its store in Drumnadrochit, in the Highlands, last week.
Photographer Raymond Bell also spotted them on sale in a shop in Glasgow.
Olympic medal-winning diver Tom Daley posted a picture on Instagram posing with a Creme Egg and the caption: ‘They are back! Lindt chocolate bunnies are being sold for £2.50 in the shops, even though Easter Sunday falls on April 12 next year.
The arrival of spring’s first daffodils comes as forecasters say the country is set for the hottest New Year’s Eve in almost two centuries as a tropical plume moves over the UK.
As our seasons appear to be getting decidedly topsy-turvey, gardeners have in the past reported the first blooming daffodil as early as December 9. Some have even spotted magnolia trees blossoming in January.