Right now you are saying “What? How can he find escalators a little pleasure?”. Well here’s why. Being educated as an engineer I tend to look at things and see their functionality first. I’d say I’m largely against the ideal of “form before function” in that I’d rather have a candle on my mantle then a functionless statue. At least the candle is functional and already in place should the power go out, it also has form that is appealing but does not outweigh its function.

So to move on to escalators, they really are a wonderful, simple invention that we take utterly for granted. Next time you are in a mall, or airport or subway station (especially the ones in Paris I found) imagine there being no escalators, and having to walk up and down all those stairs (just imagine huffing it up and down the stairs in the image with this post every day on your way to work). Unlike lifts there is no wait, you don’t have to call the escalator, wait for the doors to open, and then stop at everyone else’s floors first. You hop on, and either continue walking up, roughly halfing the time it takes to get to the next floor or chill out and catch the breeze, and your breath, for a minute.

On my last visit to the local mall, I came across one that was out of order. Which reminded me of Mitch Hedbergs humorous and true insight that “an escalator can never break down, it can only become stairs”. It is so functional, that even when not working as intended it can still be used. Can the same be said of lifts? Or most other electrical inventions for that matter? They should really have signs at the end of escalators saying “Sorry for the convenience, this escalator will be stairs until we fix it”

The last thing about escalators which I appreciate, although it seems it has yet to catch on in a large way in Ireland, is escalator etiquette. To fully appreciate a well oiled society of people who adher to it then travel around the underground subways of Paris. There are numerous facets to the etiquette but the most appreciated imo is the “stay single file, stop on the right”. This basically leaves the left side free for people who can’t afford to stop on the escalator and overtake all of the rest of us lollygaggers who aren’t in any particular rush. In Paris, everyone follows this rule, and where it not for it, we would of missed our train to the airport and subsequently missed our flight as we just made our platform before the train left. Getting there we had to use several escalators and where able to completely skip to the front using the left side that nobody was blocking.

In Ireland though, it hasn’t really caught on, people will just jam up the  escalators with bags, children and stand side by side talking to each other. On the rare occasions that someone will keep to the side and let me pass, I will nod to them out of appreciation, for hopes that my return of their gesture will motivate them and the people they know to also follow suit.

Next time you ride the “travelator” take a moment to bask in its simplicity and how different your commuting life would be without it. Oh and while you’re standing there doing this, stay on the right