THERE isn't a month alive that doesn't have some fad attached to it - whether it's growing a moustache, giving up booze or raising awareness of illness, thanking the armed forces or hailing friendship, every month signifies something.

Welcome to September. This month we have Fire Door Safety Week, Eczema Awareness Week, National Spa Week, Jeans for Genes Day, and myriad others.

It is, you may by now have heard, also National Preparedness Month. This has been a thing in America since 2004 but seems to be in its inception in the UK.

Police forces up and down the country have jumped on the bandwagon by using the opportunity to encourage people to create a Grab-and-Go Bag for emergencies.

It is, I'm quite sure, a well-meaning initiative but, coming as it does entirely out of the blue yet coinciding with an imminent Brexit, it has slightly backfired.

Instead of being prepared for the worst, citizens - or at least the ones on Twitter - are in a state of fear and alarm.

Fear, alarm and vague bemusement that is.

Police Scotland's tweet reads: "September is preparedness month.

"Emergencies can happen at any time and it's recommended to have a #GrabBag ready containing essential items including medication, copies of important documents, food/water, torch, radio and other personal items."

It finishes with the hashtag BePrepared, which, on Twitter, automatically gives you a little Lion King emoji as a nod to the famous Disney song of the same name.

Whether by accident or design, the emoji has not been deleted, somewhat undercutting the seriousness of the message.

"Your life might be in peril, don't forget water and an emergency torch. Oh, and here's a tiny Simba the lion."

Seasonal clothing is encouraged for your Grab-and-Go bag, as are food and water, a notebook and pen, a torch, batteries, a whistle and an emergency plan.

Unfortunately, as we don't know what the emergency is likely to be, you'll need to keep your plan general.

Luckily Brexit falls on Halloween so, seasonal clothing-wise, we won't need to bother with a Halloween costume. However, an emergency state may have been declared by Christmas so bring an elf outfit, at least.

One police force recommended having one grab bag at home and one at work.

This is an emergency plan unsuitable for those without money to spare. It's a significant outlay for the one bag, never mind two.

Up sprung the doctored images: Grab bags containing nothing but sausage rolls and a lads mag, other laden with gin, yet more with books. Monster Munch seemed to be a popular item, ditto Tangfastics, Angel Delight and, in one case, a Nespresso machine.

Emergency-wise, the bags are supposed to see us through major disasters like storms, flooding and terror attacks.

There's some suggestion that they'd come in handy during transport strikes or road closures but needing a change of clothes and a copy of the household insurance because there's detours on the M8 seems a bit extreme.

From a good place, the idea has become a damp squib. As wet as a warthog's backside.

My American friend is highly bemused at our bemusement.

She and her husband have two of these bags, which she calls Bug Out Bags, and which, she says, are standard in the US.

It's nice that we have another US-UK language quirk to add to the list. You say Bug Out, we say Grab and Go.

A quick Google of Bug Out Bags finds that a camping stove and aviation disaster kit are recommended.

The Americans, eh? They always have to go one bigger and better.

Without explaining exactly why the Grab-and-Go bags are necessary, the whole thing turned into a bit of a PR fail for Police Scotland.

Given a vast amount of people are on edge about Brexit, the lack of clarity caused a flurry of "what do they know that we don't?" Will we all be eating out of tins in the dark by the end of November, is that it?

Scaremongering, was a common accusation.

It's a nice reminder of how fortunate we are in Scotland.

Our weather is so temperate that we don't think of emergency supplies. We've avoided any major terrorist attacks and so the notion of fleeing our homes with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a bag of duct tape is unthinkable.

Grab-and-Go has become Grab-and-Guffaw yet... what if they do know something we don't?

Who'll be laughing then?