Going Up ! Going Down !

This thing called an elevator or a lift is part and parcel of our
daily lives, we press the button, the lift stops right in front of
our nose, and we step right inside without thinking anything of it.
It's as normal and easy as the escalator in every large shopping center,
instead of walking up the steps provided, we'd rather get onto the fast
moving steps that will get us to the top or the bottom in no time.

Up to this day I've known only one person who refused point blank to
set foot on the fast moving steps - my Mom!
For some unknown reason she's rather walk up or down 5000 steps than go
on the escalator.

But that's another story, I want to tell you how we all got stuck in the
elevator rather late - ish on Sunday evening.
The picture of the elevator above is not the one in our building, but
it is very similar - very small and narrow.
Moving large furniture in this little matchbox is quite a mission, in
fact it's more than that, you need a set of powerful muscles to carry
your furniture (or most of it) up the stairs, or down if you're
moving out, simply because you cannot fit anything larger than a
human being into it.

Instead of saying good-bye to our visitors at the front door, we
decide we'd all get into the elevator just to enjoy a final chit chat.

That's when it happened!!
The elevator was definately not overcrowded (only 4 persons, and dog)
As we descended, the car stopped in mid-air, so again we presses the button
which should take us to the ground floor.
But once again we experienced the same problem.
To cut a long story short, we spent about 15 minutes of sheer fright
and horror in a tiny elevator which didn't know how to get us to
the ground floor.
Our knight in shining armour came in the form of our neighbour.
He was desperately waiting to get into the lift himself, but noticed
4 shaken humans going up and going down with no end in sight.

Apparently, one of our visitors was standing a little too close to the edge of
the elevator and caused confusion to the electronical brain of the little metal
box !

I can't say being trapped in a tiny square box with very little fresh
air, nervous tention and almost "JAM IN THE LIFT" is a pleasant
experience.
After the nasty ordeal, I had problems walking back into freedom
with a pair of kneecaps which felt genuinely jam filled.
As I'm typing this story, I am laughing, but believe me, no-one was
laughing last night.
Perhaps I should stick to the staircase in future ! ! !