HIGH summer had truly arrived at the prodigiously luminous, garishly resplendent, and gloriously jam-packed Times Square, otherwise known as the centre of the universe.

As befitting its Broadway and 42nd Street location, and to a backdrop of steam rising through the packed streets and traffic cops with their obligatory flourish of whirring arms directing unsteady traffic, as if offering guidance to lost giraffes, came a succession of cameos and characters.

New York, New York: never mind being the city that doesn’t sleep, it’s the city that keeps you awake.