In my youngest days family holidays often took us to different parts of England, Scotland, Wales and southern Ireland.

My first visit to Cumbria was in 1979, almost 29 years before I came back full time.

There are a few characteristics of that holiday that I remember very well. It was when my brother and I perfected the art of building sandcastles. We played cricket on a village green with a boy staying nearby who was far faster than us.

One day our match was interrupted by the arrival of a pack of large, noisy foxhounds that scared me half to death. It’s from then that I trace my opposition to fox hunting.

But one other memory stands out vividly. It was the depressing shop displays in Carlisle city centre.

I noticed these in other towns on subsequent holidays and they always got me down.

Whether they were clothes shop windows full of school shirts, trousers, skirts and blazers, or newsagents with pens, pencils, rulers and exercise books, they always bore the words: “Back to school.”

My heart would sink like a stone. Give us a break, I always felt like going in and telling them. We’ve only just got off school.

Surely there ought to have been a period of grace, a decent break before the shops started rubbing in the fact that we’d soon be back.

We’ve long seen that premature promotion with Christmas. A few years ago there was an effort to discourage shops from launching their Christmas campaigns too early.

But that was being ignored in central Carlisle at the weekend. Among the stalls in English Street there was a group of girls in Santa hats.

I don’t know what they were selling but they were doing it to a soundtrack of the Christmas song Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. Considering it was a bright and still warm afternoon it seemed decidedly odd.

It’s strange to hear the lyric “Deck the halls with boughs of holly” when you’re wearing sunglasses.

It’ll be two months before I’m decking any halls with boughs of holly. The chances are that Santa hasn’t even finalised his list of well-behaved boys and girls yet.

And it’s not as if there’s nothing else that businesses can commemorate first. Guy Fawkes Night has been largely unseated in Britain by Halloween.

There’s much to deplore about American imports but I don’t really object to Halloween. A few witches’ hats and carved pumpkins are probably preferable to burning an effigy of a Catholic on a bonfire.

But let the shops get Halloween and Bonfire Night out of the way before they start playing Mistletoe And Wine endlessly.

Bed and mattress manufacturer Silentnight is no better. This week it issued some advice on withstanding “Blue Monday”, the most depressing day of the year.

The tips are less than surprising. Take some exercise, get outside, eat properly, have a nap if you can and avoid digital technology before bedtime.

Blue Monday is the day when the weather is cold, there’s no time off to look forward to, we’re short of money after Christmas expense, and it’s a Monday.

But it falls on January 20. It’s more than a quarter of a year away.

What I resent about this hurrying us through the year is that it makes time pass more quickly. The accelerating passage of time is a longstanding source of middle-aged angst.

The older you get, the faster it seems to pass. Almost everyone notices it. You turn 21, you’re glad your spots have disappeared, and before you know it your hair’s also disappearing.

You come to terms with turning 30 and suddenly find yourself in your 40s. You have a birthday and realise that two years to the day you’ll be 50.

It’s not just down to a pessimistic imagination. There’s a reason for it.

Our brains tend to commit new and exceptional experiences to our memory, not routine, familiar ones. You may not remember locking the front door or brushing your teeth because you do so every day, but you will remember something funny or exciting or frightening because it’s outside the norm.

And when you’re young, much more of the world seems new, so your brain has more memorable experiences to process. As adults our lives become more routine, and to an extent we’ve seen it all before.

Having new experiences, learning new skills and exploring new places may help put the brakes on time.