Luke ‘n’ Kim

it’s no big deal really

25 March, 2008 – 10:09 pm

a couple of months ago i was organising a clearing company to do a massive stock pick up at a city building… old computers had been boxed up and replaced with new ones, and they were off to be auctioned… so spoke with the guys in the truck, arranged a time… spoke with the building manager, booked the loading dock; sorted.

about 2 minutes before they’re due to show up, the fire alarm starts going off, no announcements of a test, just alarms, realising my planning will go down the drain if the loading dock is shut, i race out to the foyer, and against my better judgement press the down button from the 24th floor.

the lift arrives, i get in and hit G.

with the alarms still ringing out, the lift moves down as per normal, then bang, stops in the express zone.

i look at my mobile phone; no reception. great. i bounce a little to see if it’s moving at all… hmm… can’t really tell… i figure the fire alarms have just kicked in and the lifts are all going back to ground or i’m actually stuck and there’s actually a fire… nervous much? i was.

enough time passed to work myself into a quiet panic, and just as i was working up the courage to pickup the emergency handset, the doors opened and i was at the ground level.

PHEW

ok, i’m out and there are firemen everywhere, but it is a drill… albeit a full drill with all the staff walking down the stairs, spoke with the fire warden and got “no, call the removal people, there’ll be no pickup today”

bugger, but that isn’t really the point of the story…

i guess ever since then, i feel a bit nervous in lifts now… it’s not that bad or anything, i’m not sitting in the corner rocking or anything, just… aware of how precarious it is.

the other day a mediocre american sitcom spoke to me… a veritable pearl of wisdom from samantha who? if that is even possible…

“…being in an elevator is like riding a coffin down a mine shaft…”

nice.