After sunset

It's a common idea, that cities reinvent themselves at night. And people are attracted by the idea of renewal, aren't they?

Because, after sunset, the town changes, visually. Darkness submerges detail. Colour is swept away, difference concealed, and daytime contours cloaked with the same deep shadows. The city, stripped of its daylight, emerges in a different way. The bones are visible; night signs shine out; they say, here is what's important to you, the midnight city dweller.

I decided to walk a familiar route, wondering how the language landscape of my own town changed after dark.

Which signs would quietly disappear, reliant on light to bring attention to themselves? Which signs would grow, and take on a different form? Which words would invite my interest, mark my route, suggest a new significance, or become like a beacon to measure my progress?

Not this one. The No Parking sign I passed earlier today. (Perhaps you can park here after dark and get away with it.)

The Indian Restaurant makes a half-hearted attempt to woo me after dark with its upper-level moon-shaped signage.

But they haven't got round to replacing their poster in the lightbox on the corner. As this is their prime marketing space after dark, I guess they're relying on the fact that the local traffic know they're there, upstairs to the left.

The bank demands my attention! But it's not on a through road for vehicle traffic. I wonder if they're reminding late night pedestrians that they have two cashpoints.

The Grill and Sweets shop! It's a fast-food palace, serving mostly the Pakistani ethnic community.

And Tesco. One of the largest national supermarket chains. An enormous sign bellowing out at night along a main through road for vehicles.

A halal fast food shop.

And a cashpoint till, shining with an ice-blue neon, next to the betting shop.

My local town, stripped down to its signage, late at night.

From it, you can guess both the type of people who live here and what activities are important to us. After dark, it's an upstairs curry or a fast-food takeaway, Tesco for our breakfast provisions, and quick, late-night hard cash for the evening's entertainment.