Bananas in pyjamas

[venta]

So, people of the internet, tell me your thoughts on climbing stairs.

Comments

[bopeepsheep]

I can sometimes, and when it's one flight I tend to, although when I was working last I used the lift when I arrived because I'd usually just walked a mile to get there and stairs immediately after that are really hard work for me. At lunchtime I'd walk down, sometimes walk back up; I'd usually walk down in the evening but not infallibly. (At that stage my back was about the same, but my legs were much better than they are now.)

In the JR my appointments are usually on the top floor so the lift is an obvious choice. I have a similar dizziness problem with lightwells and glass screens, so in any building where I know ahead of time that that's a problem I will head for the lift.

[sushidog]

My office is one floor up and I have a couple of classes which are two flights up; I take the stairs (come to think of it I don't know where the lift is for the two-flights-up teaching). I used to be much more prone to taking the lift for anything over one flight, but these days I try to be fairly physical active within my normal routine (so I cycle or walk rather than driving whenever possible, and will choose to go to a more remote shop rather than a nearby one for the sake of the exercise, but I don't go to the gym), and avoiding lifts is part of that. I don't know where my limit would be; when I go to my local Ikea, I climb seven or eight flights, I think, rather than taking the lift, although if I have a trolley on the way down, I don't have much choice!

[exspelunca]

....are coming down the stairs, bananas in pyjamas are chasing teddy bears. (I've done my stints on crèche duty). Working for more than 40 years in a four story building with no lift at all, I said I'd retire if I couldn't run (less ploddingly tiring than walking) from reception on the ground floor to the wages cashier on the top floor without getting out of breath. I couldn't put it to the test as new owners put our retirement age up by 3 years and made the cashier redundant. Thanks to an ex who insisted I try potholing, I never use lifts and still have my own hips and knees.

[venta]

Weren't the steps in your building weirdly shallow? That's how I remember them, anyway.

I wonder if that makes them more ploddy?

My previous office had strangely tiring stairs. Those of us who used them in preference to the lift all agreed that we ended up more out of breath than was reasonable. I think they were actually slightly deeper stairs than is usual.

[exspelunca]

Depends if you used the front or back stairs! And I seem to remember some flights in each were different.

[pm215]

I will pretty much always take the stairs if it's one or two flights up; after that it's a bit more variable and for five or more floors almost always the lift. This is mostly because I'm too impatient to stand around waiting for the lift, even if it's overall faster to use it. Getting a little bit more exercise is a secondary benefit. I usually take escalators rather than stairs, unless the approach to the escalator is so crowded with people that the stairs look quicker.

Like another commenter I tend to seek out the usually hidden stairs in hotels; in that case there's also a vague sense that they're worth scouting out in case of fire.

[glittertigger]

I take the stairs if it's one floor, but will choose the lift for more than that. When fully fit I use stairs more, but alas that is not currently the case due to tedious health stuff.