I’ve never really been a fan of Bank Holidays. In my humble opinion, they are more trouble than they are worth.

I can trace my antipathy to them back to my working life. If you have a job ruled by a weekly deadline, all a Bank Holiday Monday does is force you to cram five days worth of work into four days. And let’s face it, even if you do get time off, do you really want to be crammed into some seaside resort along with thousands of other people?

Of course now I have lots more time on my hands and I’m no longer under the pressure of meeting weekly deadlines, Bank Holidays have become pretty meaningless to me. The Early May Bank Holiday passed me by without me even realising it was happening. It was just another Monday to me.

So excuse me if I don’t get too excited over the prospect of a four-day weekend to mark The Queen’s platinum jubilee next month.

Of course, I fully accept that not everyone thinks like me. I’m sure millions of people are looking forward with eager anticipation to putting up the Union Flag bunting and donning cardboard crowns to raise a glass to the longest-serving monarch in British history.

It certainly seems to have sparked the imagination of supermarket chain Morrisons which has announced its new Jubilee range.

Yes, nothing says ‘long to reign over us’ quite like the happy and glorious fare on offer including jubilee pizzas, cookies, scotch eggs, cakes, bottles of bubbly. Truly a regal feast fit for a queen.

Having said that, given I am partial to a little trifle now and again, I quite fancy the official pudding of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle which was dreamed up by amateur baker Jenna Melvin. Her creation beat 5,000 other desserts to be crowned winner of the Platinum Pudding competition on BBC One special The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking.

But that’s as far as I’m prepared to go with the whole Jubilee thing.

In fact, I’m actually beginning to wonder about the role of the monarchy in British public life. I watched the state opening of parliament the other week and couldn’t help but compare and contrast the archaic splendour on display with the absolute poverty and financial desperation many of the Queen’s subjects are currently suffering.

The images of Prince Charles in a Ruritanian outfit on a gold throne in the House of Lords seems somehow at odds with a country that wants to be modern and forward-thinking.

But for goodness sake, who thought in the current economic climate that it was a good idea for the Imperial State Crown to be taken to Westminster in its own customised Rolls-Royce? That’s just rubbing our noses in it.

So by all means, enjoy your Platinum Jubilee long weekend. Have a few beers and try making that special trifle but remember, when the party’s over, your energy bills will still be monumental, the price of food will still be going up and inflation will still be heading towards 10 per cent.