Lifts have their place. I don’t just mean in lift shafts. I mean, sometimes, taking the lift rather than the stairs is the most sensible option. I always take the lift in Ikea Coventry, its 5 big flights of stairs to climb up otherwise. So I get the lift, get my full English breakfast, get the lift down. OK, it doesn’t sound the healthiest start to the day, but sometimes I walk to Ikea. Or sometimes I do get the first bus after 9.30, with all the over 60s on it, because they have their free bus passes.
- It’s a little bit of physical exertion that adds up to give you a healthier, longer life
- If everyone starts taking the stairs, it stops energy being wasted on lifts full of people who really don’t need to use them
- Stairs tend to be more open spaces then lifts, and especially if you’re going to the office, to sit at a crammed desk for hours on end, surely you want to make the most of the open spaces around you
- Lifts can break, and you can get stuck in them. That doesn’t happen with stairs.
- If you see someone on the stairs you don’t want to talk to at that particular time, you can (safely) speed past them. If you’re in a lift with that person, you can’t escape so quickly
- Led Zeppelin wrote a song called ‘Stairway to Heaven’. And Robin the Frog from The Muppets sang ‘Halfway Down The Stairs’. I can’t think of any great songs about lifts.