There I was standing in an elevator at Queen Mary's Hospital when an elderly woman tottered in and surveying the buttons for the choice of floor declared to the other passengers;"I'm no good at lifts ~ mechanical"
Whilst the lift is indeed moved by mechanical means of gears, cables and counterweights the actual user interface is purely physical/electronic; push the button whose number corresponds to the floor number to which you wish to travel, and wait.
I smiled, I pressed the button for her in an artistic, rather than mechanical, way!
4 comments:
I'm still waiting for the day when I'm in a lift and someone tells me that they need assistance because they've always adhered to Bluebottle's instruction - "Don't press the button!"
I think she was just trying to take the rise out of you! ;-)
The implication, though, David, is that pushing the button creates a tangible connection between the button-pusher and all those gears and other mechanical whatsits (whatsits being a highly technical term, itself) and the Lady of Non-Mechanical Inclinations was loathe to instigate such a connection, which, in her opinion (and indeed perhaps in her experience) could only lead to disaster.
Sharon; Brian: Yes, but your comments gave me a little lift.
scb:Whilst the lady didn't want the responsibility of initiating that series of connections she was quite happy for others to do so and to enter the contraption in the first place.
I wonder if turning on a light-switch engages a similar series of intricate, complex interconnections?
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