Pink glowed the yellow plastered walls of the courtyard as I settled down for soup; looking out revealed the sky throbbing a perfect pink against a dark blue of the approaching night. Tea was glossed over before rushing camera up towards the sparkling water of the Grand Canal. Though the best light had shone away, docklands rarely looked better: mottled water, pink sky and bright colours of bold newcomers to the landscape combining to make summer in Dublin a very particular and occasional delight.

Afterwards, only in Dublin could investigation of the year’s finest sunset end with a solid drenching under a heavy shower of rain.