No really. On behalf of grown up children everywhere who worry about their elderly parents, I have to call this one out.
I was working at the junction the other day. Coming out of the office, I saw a woman in her 70’s in a bike helmet sitting on the concourse floor at the top of the escalators. She’d fallen. I helped her 70 + husband lift her up, collect her bicycle and sit her down in the waiting room. She seemed mercifully unhurt. But I had to write a report so I asked them what had happened.
Apparently having discovered that there were no trains on their line, they planned to cycle to the station they wanted. So far so good. But deciding to see if they could take a short cut through the station, they set out to take their bicycles down the escalators to platform 1.
“I forgot to put on my brakes and I lost control of it,” she said.
I was furious. Visions of broken hips and necks danced in my head. Thank God she herself hadn’t made it onto the escalator when she lost control! Thank God there was no one else on the escalator at the time! Didn’t they realize how dangerous it was to take a bike on an escalator? (not the mention against the rules)
I was a paragon of self-control and did not use the word “stupid” as in “Are you two completely stupid?” once. I probably I didn’t need to. When I suggested politely that next time they use the lifts, they got very defensive.