Parade observed on Sunday it was exactly three months until Christmas, and literally can’t wait.

A friend of Parade mentioned she spent last week in Sydney and noticed all the big department stores were busy setting up their Christmas displays, which in some cases literally take up entire department store floors.

In Bathurst, we’ve also seen shops getting their Christmas stock out, so Parade is guessing it won’t be long before kids in the city start making their wish lists.

GIRLS, we’ve got a new best friend.

Australian diamond mining company Lucapa has unearthed a large, almost perfectly pure diamond at its main mine in Angola.

The whopping 172.67 carat diamond weighs about 35 grams and is a type lla, D-colour stone meaning it is almost entirely devoid of impurities and colourless.

The stone, which has been described as ‘exceptional’, was recovered from alluvial operations at Lulo, and is the fifth over 100-carat diamond recovered from the mining operations in 2016, and the sixth in total.

There’s no word yet what the stunning sparkler is worth, but not surprisingly, given their most recent find, shares in Lucapa closed up on Monday.

After a quick discussion between colleagues on Tuesday, a quick check on the calendar confirmed that daylight savings does indeed start on Sunday morning.

Some of Parade’s colleagues were looking forward to the event, saying they love nothing more than finishing work when it’s still daylight, while others were begrudging having to get out of bed an hour earlier than they normally do, and were unhappy about the thought of losing an extra hour’s sleep.

But really, unless you work in a clock shop or jewellery store and have the unenviable task of resetting all your clocks and watches, there’s no use complaining because it’s here, either way.

So don’t forget to put your clocks forward when you go to bed Sunday night.