was in this way that I came upon the lighthouse, on one of the very first expeditions in my wheelchair, shortly after swimming up from the mists of coma. As we emerged from a lift, having got off on the wrong floor, I saw it: tall, robust and reassuring, in red and white stripes that reminded me of a rugby shirt. I at once placed myself under the protection of this brotherly symbol, guardian not just of sailors but of the sick – those castaways on the shores of loneliness.
