You're bringing me down

[austin_dern]

I had some time to spend not doing anything particularly productive and used it to go to a mall which I rarely get to. It's just a bit farther away than is really convenient, and now there are Apple Stores closer than it, so there's not a really strong reason to get there unless I happen to be in the area for something else. The nearest mechanic my father trusts is relatively near that, though, so why not go there? I also figured I should get a Chapstick or the equivalent, since I lost mine by the usual route of forgetting to take it out of my pocket before putting the clothes in the laundry, so that once again I had an empty tube of Chapstick and clothes with a vaguely mint waxiness. It turns out the mall's only convenience store had closed, though, so there wasn't anywhere to get Chapstick or the equivalent. That's the sort of realization that makes it hard not to lick your lips.

It was on the second floor as I planned to get back down that I saw a crowd gathered outside the escalator. This wasn't your typical group of people who don't understand how escalators work; it was a group that saw the escalator had stopped, and so they were taking very tentative, careful steps onto it while holding the railing against a sudden start. And as the group of maybe eight people got on the escalator, it started up again, at a nice smooth pace. So I got on myself.

I was about halfway down when the first people of the group ahead of me got off the escalator, and as they got on in short order they were all off when I was about two-thirds of the way down, and the escalator slowed to a complete halt. I had to walk the rest of the way down, and saw later that the escalator was barricaded off for being out of order. Let's let that stand as testament to all the people who claim Americans are getting morbidly obese. It takes a whole eight of us to make an escalator work by gravity alone.

Trivia: The twelfth month of the Babylonian calendar was Adaru. Source: Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History, EG Richards.

Currently Reading: The Viking Rocket Story, Milton W Rosen.

Comments

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I'm slightly concerned to think that escalators work by gravity alone. On one hand, that could result in some excellent hybrid-drive savings. On the other hand, broken elevators are supposed to now be stairs, and not vacillate.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I don't know that they're supposed to work party gravity-driven, even if it does amount to some savings in energy. I would think the escalator design that slows down if it's been a long stretch since the last person entered would be more effective (if that condition were ever satisfied in a shopping mall in late November).

I'm not sure that sliding down was an intended system or if it was just how this escalator happened to break. They did have the thing barricaded off later, so perhaps it didn't lock into the proper ``stair'' mode.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Hmm. With an electric eye to sense when someone cross the path. Then you'd have the trouble off dealing with "I'm on the escalator AND NOW IT'S FAST ACK!" reactions though.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

It's not disorienting, from my experience. There's a few steps between the sensor and the escalator, so that if people are put off by watching the speed that's all right; they have the chance to see it.