The lighthouse log

Text: an original contemporary personal account-style practice extract.

At the lighthouse, I arrived before the first visitors and put my coat in the cupboard beside the logbook. I tested the torch by shining it at the floor, then waited while the keeper unlocked the spiral staircase. The brass rail felt cold beneath my hand, and each step narrowed the view of the sea until only a strip of blue remained between the walls.

Identify one action the writer took at the lighthouse before the keeper unlocked the spiral staircase.