Well, C - obviously a bad day or two there! Was some lady in your acquaintance ever seduced or whatever by a Lightning pilot? By the way, The RAAF NEVER flew Lightnings and I don't think T-M has any intercept experience over the (UK) North Sea even, nor, possibly, seen 'Migs' in his miltary service - furthermore, I read NOTHING in his post the way you did.
However, I think we all agree that having the light switches in your reach means you do what you think sensible - and in multi-crew, by agreement. However, as 'cough' has pointed out, it is not a good idea to treat them as cloud indicators. For me, I find strobes distracting in cloud and I know the pax see them more than I do.
Other lights I use on a sensible 'be seen' principle, except for landing lights which are sometimes useful on runways with minimal lighting for me 'to see' to judge my greaser and certainly on the ground. It should be remembered that nothing in 'SOPs' prevents use of common sense.
Regarding 'night vision' - yes, I do try to preserve it.