I headed for a place I’d been to before, on a street intriguingly named “At the Starfish”. It was good before, and it was good this time.

Coming back from there towards the hotel, I walked across the Theodor Heuss bridge, counting the paces to figure out how long it was, and letting the cold night air counteract the effects of the sake.

I lost count around 390-odd paces, because that’s when I heard a car coming up behind me, revving hard. My first thought was “second gear… try second gear you idiot”. Then, as the noise got close enough for me to turn round and check it out, there was not one set of headlights but two, criss-crossing as both cars fought for the same piece of bridge. There was only one way that fight was going to end, and it worked out worst for the front car. Its rear wheel got nudged into the kerb, there was a wailing, scraping noise which would set your jaw on edge, let alone your teeth, and then it swung round and the front end banged into the granite and the whole thing came to a stop.