please empty your brain below

Is there a subtext here? I hope we are not going to read a report about your experiences waiting in A&E in tomorrow's post.

You were King of Holborn in Feb 2009, before your office moved - I hope you're still able to claim the same regality at your current Underground station?

Sympathies DG, it catches up with us all eventually. I was a stairway warrior until a (not very serious) arse-over-tit experience at Aldgate tube. Combination of wet stairs, luggage-carrying and rushing for train. I am now the bloke who always holds the handrail. And my knee still aches when it's chilly.

I find that the riser on many public stairs (especially tube and rail) is too small, I hate taking lots of little steps to gain little height. The staircases in most peoples home seem to have a taller riser.

I'm good with all stairs, except descending those with very shallow steps (I have big feet) and stationary escalators, which always leave me feeling like I'm going to trip.

Running to catch the tube at Rickmansworth station on 21st December 1979 (actually, it might have been 1980), I fell from top to bottom of the stairs. It was a very strange experience, flying, but the pain on landing did not make the few seconds of flight worthwhile.

I had to be rescued on a stretcher and blue-lighted to hopital. I then had 6 weeks of only being able to crawl about, such was the severity of my injuries.

I never run down stairs now.

I used to be one of those runners, till on fateful day in 1984. I tripped and fell broke both legs, since then I walk and hold on to the rail.

When I was little, I used to run up the stairs at home on all fours, and when coming down used to jump from about half-way, landing with an almighty crash (to the annoyance of my mum). These days, I'm not too good with them. On long flights, I tend to get bored, lose concentration and trip or miss a stair. Mind you, I'm not morbidly averse to spiral staircases, like one of my friends.

For the last 6 months I've had to walk with a stick, and I find that going downstairs is the most difficult because of the balance. At work I walk up, get the lift down. Escalators have such deep treads that I have to stand going up or down, though before I always walked down and could walk up if I wished. But I do nearly always get offered a seat on public transport.

Ah, I once fell head first down the steps onto the Northern Line platform. I was only doing one step at a time but my heel slipped on the metal/shiny surface and I'd already lifted up my other foot.
I caught a woman doing exactly the same when I was going up the steps somewhere in the Bank corridors - she slipped down as I was going up. She vehemently refused my assistance. Not sure why.


Now I've got arthritis in my knees I find that I often literally do one step at a time as I have to use the same foot each time to step forward.

And spiral staircases really make me feel uncomfortable.

What a marvellous essay on this little-addressed subject.

I've never been able to walk downstairs without looking at where I'm putting my feet - makes me very uncomfortable indeed to try and carry something in front of me down a flight of stairs that blocks my feet from view.

But at the moment I'm four weeks into a broken ankle (from walking on the flat and going over on it, no stairs involved), so public steps are a slow matter of crutches and handrails and hopping, and I've developed an idiosyncratic one-knee, one-foot, both-hands, two-steps-at-a-time technique on our stairs at home.

Your abilities as summarised: 'I'm not bad with stairs, don't get me wrong. I can walk up one at a time with no difficulty. I can still run up steps when necessary. I can hold my own in a rush hour crowd without appearing inept' are ones I can only envy and long to once again emulate.

The worst stairs I know are at Crystal Palace station from the overground platforms. Just the wrong depth - one at a time feels like a half step as they are so shallow but two at a time feels like an over-stretch (especially if you have short legs like me!). It's a no-win situation.

Agree with CPGirl about the stairs at Crystal Palace station - they're horrible...

Everyone at work walks up the staircase two steps at a time, but I never do. I did it once, and as I have size 14 feet, they got stuck under the step above and I fell over.

So now, one at a time, however long it takes.

I might be one of DG's 'stair experts' going up taking two steps at a time (mainly because I'm tall).
I am a bit slower going down these days though (mainly because of Varifocals).


What you NEED is a map showing which tube stations involve stairs . . . .



I'm scared of stairs with no riser at the back. My nan had stylish 70s polished pine stairs like these and when we were little we were told something awful would happen if we ran on the stairs, or attempted them in socks. Ever since, I can't escape the suspicion that I'll fall over and slide between the stairs and get stuck.

Have you ever tried climbing The Monument?

If you can do that, then there's not a lot wrong with your legs.

I'm the exact opposite of this post. I find ascending or descending stairs one at a time much more tiring than two at a time, mainly because I have long legs and so my optimal stride is roughly two average public risers. If I try to go down stairs one at a time, all that happens is that I get tired out after travelling half as far as normal.

I hardly ever take stairs in ones these days, and I also tend to run everywhere. The reason for this is exactly as prosaic as hinted in DG's post - I'm very impatient and I like to minimise the amount of time wasted travelling between two destinations.

But people who climb staircases one at a time don't annoy me. What really, really makes me mad is people who stand on the left of the escalator, blissfully oblivious to the massive traffic jam they are single-handedly causing. At busy times, one thoughtless idiot can set off a perpetual ripple effect (very similar to the phenomenon of phantom traffic jams with no apparent cause on motorways) whereby everyone, for the next three hours or so, is forced to stand for about half the distance of an escalator, in spite of the fact that the one person who was willingly so stupid is now miles away and still ignorant of the chaos they caused, the prick.

But why do we have to stand on the right and overtake on the left on escalators when it's the opposite on our roads?

My worst horror is walking down stationary escalators. It's difficult to describe, but looking at the metal treads when walking down them seems to clog up my brain and I find it hard to control my physical extremeties.

Oh, plus the stairs inbetween the escalators at Bank / Monument - something about the angle of the visuals makes me feel like I am constantly teetering on the edge and about to fall over.

There is one thing worse than walking down stationary escalators. And that is walking down long stationary escalators late in the evening after you have had quite a bit to drink.

I wonder about those Downstair Runners too. They always look so natural/relaxed when they do it.

Walking down stationary escalators makes me feel queasy and physically unsafe. I always feel like I am going to fall even though I am holding onto the handrail with white knuckles. What I have found is that the new spangley escalators are worse for causing the wobble effect than the old fashioned, knackered ones.

@bluewitch - possibly because when you walk (on a road with no pavement) it's on the right - to be facing oncoming traffic.

Or else they just had to choose one and that's the one they chose

@ Blue Witch and disgruntled,

I know this and have been longing for an opportunity to use this information.

The original escalators had an exit at the side with a tapering wall on the other side. The exit happened to be the right hand side. This is probably because they were American. Consequently those less confident with escalators would naturally stand on the right to maximise the opportunity to safely step off - a bit like a pilot opting for the longest runway. Those more confident and in a hurry would pass by on the left. So it was that the rule "stand on the right" was instigated. Like a lot of rules that subsequently turn out to be the wrong way round (e.g. drawing the direction of current in circuit diagram) the chaos associated with changing it far outweighs the benefits.

It one of many things that appears to be illogical but has a logical explanation. Other examples that spring to mind are why buttons on women's blouses are on a different side to men's shirts and why the size of DVD and CD cases are different.


I love comparing the numbers of comments on a varied sample of DG's posts within a short time period.

@PoP: And the answer to the CD/DVD case question is...?

With the CD/DVD question, I would assume that it is because the CD Jewel case is the equivalent to the Cassette Tape case (both for music) whereas a DVD case is the equivalent to the VHS tape case (both for video).

Of course, that analogy falls down slightly when you consider vinyl records and their size (although maybe not come to think of it...).

It's a fantastic feeling to run lightly down a flight of broad stairs, as sure-footed as a mountain goat, hand just skimming the hand-rail, pretending you're a famous dancer making an entrance. Even if someone is shouting at you, "Don't run!"


As a small 11 year old boy, I was in awe of those manly gods of the sixth form who could stride up more than one stair at a time. It may be 17 years since I left the sixth form myself, but I still have a strong competitive urge to be the first to get to the top.

Don't worry - it comes to us all. How many 80 year olds run up or down stairs?! (I like to be cheerful...) I used to be youngish and played the flute and ran upstairs. Now I go upstairs (inside houses) on all fours, like an ape - quite relaxing. Anyway, maybe the people you see rushing upstairs and downstairs two at a time are a bit mindless and philistine. It's not a great virtue. Though it is worrying when something you did easily in youth becomes an effort. Makes ya think!



I am 18 and still run up the stairs at home on all-fours - baggage permitting! ;)

I do a light jump two steps at a time when going down stairs such as those in tube stations, sort of like a ba-dumm-ba-dumm rhythm... when going up it depends how tired I am! Same for escalators as long as there's not some numpty with a suitcase sticking out, or a person new to the tube who doesn't know their left from right...

CD/DVD thing was down to shops not having to rebuild their shelves. 2 CDs are less than the height of one 12" LP allowing for a new intermediate shelf. As stated the DVD case fits into the space of a video cassette.

Amazing that something as mundane as walking up stairs gets more comments than most of your posts.
I take the lift.

I agree with swirlythingy; one at a time, at least going up, feel wrong, unless I am wearing heels, in which case my grip on the handrail is definitely tighter.

And I wouldn't say I run downstairs,, but I definitely don't walk. It just seems so... slow! And down the escalators to Moorgate platforms 9 and 10 on my way home the possibility that a train is about to leave is just too anxiety-causing to dilly-dally!

And Lewis - yes, stationary escalators are very disconcerting. I think it's the knowledge that they are meant to be moving and hence could in fact start moving at any time, even though that is unlikely to happen. Walking down them feels easier than walking up though, for some reason.

Has anyone experienced asymmetrical lack of balance (tautology?!) going upstiars when carrying something? I can barely put any pressure on my left food if I am walking up a few steps in our office carrying a cup of tea, but without the load I can happily bound up two at a time. Weird.

I'm a rail holder, one step at a time person myself, as I have had too many near misses where I have nearly tripped on my long skirts, or had someone step on mine. Though if it's a late evening and I find myself the only person in the stair well at Bank from the Northern Line down to the DLR, I will occasionally be a bit more lively and run down a flight or take 2 steps at a time (difficult though as I'm not very tall).

My disasterous fall on public transport did not involve stairs thankfully, rather I tripped on loose guttering at a platform (thanks DLR!) and went head over - just missed smashing my head into a poster hoarding by an inch. Still managed to get up aided by others, get on the train, get to work and promptly go into shock at the reception desk followed by a taxi to A&E. Ouch.

Oh and I hate stationary escalators - they make me really dizzy, so I have to take them reallly slowly.

The steps at Tottenham Hale from the station to the bridge - really steep treads for us shorties.

And non-tube stairs that give me the wobblies - the 2nd flight of granite steps at Number 1 London Bridge - they're shiny and on the diagonal, with really narrow treads and the only set of steps (apart from spiral staircases) that make me want to use hands and knees for safety. I've seen tourists struggle with them, so it's not just me.

@s - "Oh and I hate stationary escalators."
Me too. Your brain says "this should be moving, in fact it is moving, no it isn't, oh I 'm confused".

I´m afraid it´s got something to do with age and with caution. When I was younger I used to do many things fast and felt secure. Now I´ve reached the age when the speed doesn´t seem to matter so much...











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