THE first week of September and there’s a distinct chill in the air.

It’s not the dropping temperatures indicating the onset of autumn I’m talking about. It's the foul moods of morning drivers who, after six glorious weeks of empty roads and stress-free journeys, are cursing the beginning of the new academic year.

In our office the mood has been particularly sour this week.

My colleague and friend has a long drive to work, which often takes more than an hour, and takes in a number of motorways.

In the summer months she gets an extra half an hour lie-in and if she’s lucky she manages to get to work without having to negotiate crashes, closed roads and ridiculous traffic jams. But a dark cloud has descended over our mornings since the schools have been back.

The traffic isn't the only way you can tell the schools are back.

Parents are happier, for a start.

Sending their kids back to school means freedom for mums and dads. You can see the relief in their faces that they’re no longer slaves to their little emperors demanding time, attention, money and sweets 24/7.

Packing off junior with her Hannah Montana lunchbox and new Clarks shoes must be akin to getting four numbers on the Lottery.

For stay-at-home parents September must be a particularly sweet time of year. It means they’ve got time to do all those jobs they've been putting off since July, and maybe even time to sit down with a coffee to read the paper.

I’ll bet it's a relief for their bank balances too. Entry into parks and swimming baths and play schemes can’t be cheap. Those of us who haven’t got kids get a good deal too at this time of year, especially when it comes to holidays.

If you don't have children — or much cash for that matter — this time of year is the best for going abroad.

When the schools are back travel agents slash their prices ridiculously. I’d be pretty annoyed if I were a parent seeing how a week in the Costa del Sol drops to half price the minute the school term starts. But I suppose it's all about supply and demand.

When you get on holiday it’s great too. There’s none of the annoyance of kids splashing you in the pool or screeching while you’re trying to read.

Even if you’re not going away there are benefits. How nice is it to go shopping without having to encounter swarms of teenagers congregated outside McDonald’s?

I’m aware that I’m sounding a bit like a grumpy old woman/child-hater here, so just so you know I’m not I’ll let you into a little secret.

On the last day of school back in July I spotted a little girl, aged maybe five or six, handing the lollipop man at our local school a box of chocolates.

The look on his face — surprise mixed with joy —was so touching, I shed a little tear. See, I'm not so grouchy after all.

Now if we could just persuade them all to get the bus to school in the mornings everything would be perfect.