Every year there’s a point when you know it’s no longer possible to carry out the walk home from work in daylight, and the temptation is to shut out the gloom and the rain, taking the quickest route home. But if you can get the timing right, there’s a point where you have both the blue remains of evening and an explosion of artificial suns from street lights, windows of offices and homes, shop displays, traffic signs and the headlamps of cars. Even by the beach the glow of the city pushes back the darkness of the sea and a walk along the shuttered seafront shops and bars is like stumbling onto an empty stage set.