As the taxi and I travelled around America I pictured myself […] in a traditional clapboard, clinker-built home with a view over Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Applied to a building.

Is crazyitis hereditary? Jess didn't appear to have it and Dad definitely didn't.

fade away, die away

The luckier and less disabled ones manned lifts or were posted at the doors of public buildings, a uniformed and bemedalled conciergerie who were more often than not unhelpful, making the most of whatever petty authority they were invested with.