total, attract many visitors from late August
to early November, a time when most British seaside resorts' holiday seasons
have already ended. This results in major traffic jams as most people now view
the lights from cars and coaches which crawl nose-to-tail along the whole
length of the seafront, particularly at weekends and during school holidays.
Each season a famous person "flicks the switch" to turn the lights on
in an opening-night ceremony. In 2008 the BBC Top Gear team had a race to see
who could arrive first from Switzerland on a limited amount of fuel to activate
the lights; James May, who was last, missed it
