SUMMER’S almost here, so I decided I’d try to stop being so miserable and lighten up a bit.

It’s hard though to be jolly when there’s so much to annoy me, such as daft petrol panic and scary plans to make High Wycombe’s bus lane even more ludicrous.

But I’ve soldiered on and instructed the troops on the paper to add a bit more fun to the ooh aah South Bucks Star.

‘Ooh aah’, I’ve been told, is a dated 1990s’ expression. The fans at Manchester United used to sing it to rhyme with Eric Cantona’s name for some reason.

But then I am a very dated person and 1990s is quite modern for me. That point was reinforced this week when we were trying to write a headline for a story about an Elvis singer doubling up a lollipop man.

My idea was “There’s a guy works down the lollipop crossing swears he’s Elvis.”

But all I got back from younger colleagues were blank looks and shrugs. Almost nobody knew it was a tribute to the classic song from 1981 by Kirsty MacColl entitled “There’s a guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvis”.

So, in the spirit of my new found jolliness, I am going to ignore the slings and arrows of outrageous ignorance and keep going with my new favourite slogan.

“Ooh aah South Bucks Star” is now officially this newspaper’s catchphrase and will be placed in a box alongside the lighter stories.

And I’ll be encouraging readers to go on video camera for our website saying “ooh aah South Bucks Star” in different dialects. I’ll give a prize to the best regional accent version of this.

Naturally, there are going to be loads of miserable cynics who will complain that a newspaper editor should be doing serious journalism instead of foolish, irrelevant rubbish.

Well, in my defence, I do run lots of very serious campaigns in tune with readers’ views, but no one really listens.

Take the A40 bus lane for instance – and yes, take it far away and never give it back.

Legions of Star readers recently backed me in calling for this piece of nonsense to be scrapped, and we presented a serious well-thought-out dossier to County Hall.

We were then delighted and excited to find officials had taken it seriously and were running a public consultation to seek views.

However, last week’s proposals proved a massive let-down. One suggestion is that they make the lane operate 24 hours a day seven days a week, and there’s another idea to enforce it with CCTV.

This all may make the lane more logical and easier to understand, but it also may effectively drive every sane person away from High Wycombe.

However, the most disappointing aspect of the consultation is that among the many questions listed, nowhere is the public directly asked if the lane should be axed. There are a number of ideas and tick boxes but it’s implicit in the questionnaire they want the lane to remain.

Yes, there is a box for any other comments, but no specific question addresses the key issue.

So to continue with the catchphrases, it’s a case of “Do you think I’m a fool, County Hall?” How can you serve us up a survey without the main question being asked?

Or maybe it will be “Ooh aah, I’ll ditch my car” because they’ve made it so hard for us to drive anywhere without breaking some kind of pointless rule.

Sadly, the most pertinent catchphrase in this saga has to be “What’s the big fuss? I can’t find a bus”.