Christmas crackers already on sale despite Britain baking in hottest ever temperatures
CHRISTMAS baubles have already gone on sale — despite Britain baking in a record-breaking summer.
Sweltering shoppers were stunned to see yuletide items piled 6ft high at a garden centre yesterday — as millions of us are under or facing hosepipe bans.
Despite temperatures reaching 40.3C (104F) this summer and with 142 days to go until December 25, the centre already has signs for the ‘North Pole’ outside.
Summerhill Garden Centre in Billericay, Essex, is flogging tinsel, baubles, nutcrackers, Christmas trees and festive post boxes.
The Christmas sale is one of the earliest we have known — coming after the driest July in the UK for 111 years and with no sign of meaningful rainfall on the horizon.
Shoppers — stifled by 80 per cent humidity this week — think it is crackers, especially with the Environment Agency poised to declare an official drought.
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Mum-of-two Jo Huggins, 38, said: “We’re going to Spain next week and they’ve said it could reach 40C.
“It’s the height of summer — I can’t think about Christmas yet.
“I just want to lie on a deckchair by the pool.
“The maddest thing is that people must be buying it, otherwise they wouldn’t be selling it.”
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Summerhill’s Christmas supervisor, Lauren Wealthall, 27, said: “We do Christmas in such a big way here so we have to get started early. Our Christmas department is one of the biggest in the area. We’ve sold lots of stuff already.
“People know that it always sells out so fast that they need to act quickly. It sounds mad given how hot it has been — but our customers love Christmas and they want to get prepared.”
But even Britain’s longest serving Santa Ray Hulse, 77, was unimpressed. The veteran Father Christmas, who has brought festive cheer to children since 1962, said: “I’m the biggest fan of Christmas there is but to have decorations on sale in August is absolutely ridiculous.
“It’s boiling hot and we’re facing a drought — it’s a time for ice creams and beer gardens, not mistletoe and holly.”
Water bosses have been warning reservoirs are critically low, with river flows down a quarter on normal levels for this time of year.
The National Drought Group held a crisis meeting this week when they stopped short of declaring a national state of drought in England and Wales.
However, hosepipes bans have been announced for Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, affecting three million people.
South East Water has even encouraged customers to snitch on neighbours seen using a hosepipe or sprinkler during the ban.
Another 17million people could soon be hit as Thames Water and South West Water warn they will have to bring in restrictions.
It would affect 15million in London and the Thames Valley and about two million in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.
I’m the biggest fan of Christmas there is but to have decorations on sale in August is absolutely ridiculous.
Ray Hulse, 77
Last month was the driest July for East Anglia, the South East and southern England since records began in 1836.
Forecasters have already said they do not expect August to be as fiercely hot — but it is still expected to be warm and dry, adding to water shortages.
Parched areas of England across the South and East are again expected to see temperatures climb into the 30s next week.
It could be a fortnight before milder, more changeable weather returns, forecasters say.
The lack of rainfall has been worsened by supply problems — with the revelation Thames Water’s desalination plant in East London is currently out of service.
It was built to deliver up to 100million litres of water a day.
Mark Lloyd, chief executive of The Rivers Trust, said: "Every year we get to this perilous position and at the last possible moment, when the rivers are at their lowest, we get discussion of temporary use bans. Announcing it at the last minute causes people to rush to wash their cars and fill their paddling pools, wash the dog, and causes an increase in demand before the ban comes in.
“This should happen before the rivers come to a desperate condition and there’s not enough water for wildlife.”
Scorching weather has continued for holiday-makers across mainland Europe as well, with Madrid and Bordeaux hitting 38C (100.4F), Rome and Berlin reaching 37C (98.6F) and Paris and Majorca getting to 36C (96.8F).
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Portugal and Spain fear losing millions on crops of avocados and olives, as they together face their driest conditions in 1,200 years.
Meanwhile, officials in Iraq sent workers in the desert state home yesterday as temperatures there maxed at 50C (122F).
A FLOODY DISGRACE
THOUSANDS of gallons of water were wasted yesterday in another major leak in the UK’s worst drought since 1976.
Firefighters used wooden boards to stop homes flooding and traffic ground to a halt in Willesden, North London.
One witness said: “It’s a main thoroughfare so it was a bit of a nightmare.”
UK water regulator Ofwat says a quarter of water companies are not meeting their own targets to curb leaks. Suppliers are said to waste enough water to fill 1,200 Olympic swimming pools every day.
