Comments on: Tops of Escalators

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:08:43 +0000

What is the deal w/ that? I mean as soon as we become mothers…every thing turns into a horror movie in our heads….Worst feeling in the world!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:53:22 +0000

Daph - Am I the only one who thought that you were totally hilarious in this video? Maybe I have a sick sense of humor but I was laughing out loud towards the end…..

By: Daphne

Daphne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:02:34 +0000

yes, and what are the stats of escalators? I am so gratified this is not just my koo-koo fear. But, maybe there is a connection between bloggers/readers of blogs and escalator fear? I really hate being fearful in front of my kids. maybe I should get the hypnosis.
thank you all so much for weighing in on this.
ps
Alice just looked your site. What great pictures. Really lovely. If I was in Virginia I would love you to photograph my kids.

By: amy

amy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:08:34 +0000

Bluejeanamy. I too was completely freaked about flying.. If you are not adverse to taking meds you too can cure yourself Each time I had to fly I would get an RX of ativan. Some to take to combat the anxiety of flying… one to take when arriving at airport and one, if need be as I was seated in plane.

10 years later I fly like a bird :)) Reassured by all the statistics that flying is safer then getting your bathtub and all that but most of all because I am CALM when I settle in my seat..

By: amy

amy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:03:25 +0000

You nutbar!

Yeah, had a fear of escalators myself after my shoelace got caught in one and had I not had the teen sense to ditch the shoe I am not sure what would have happened.

Got over that when the kids were younger and so eager to play on the escalators.. (What can I say, country folk we are)..

Interesting though as I would imagine most people have a greater fear of elevators as opposed to escalators…

On that note I hated flying and was a complete mess about it until only recently. I understand your fear..

By: bluejeanamy

bluejeanamy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:12:00 +0000

ah you're right! post-baby i'll probably start being afraid of escalators - i've heard plane phobias get worse - and add some nutty things like freeway driving and clowns.

NOTE FROM DAPHNE:LOL very funny

By: Alice

Alice — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:27:42 +0000

I am scared to death of them! I hate going on them and I won't hold my daughter on them either (husband has to). Glad I'm not alone on this one!!

By: Lx

Lx — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:19:38 +0000

I don't like esculators either! I'm scared when I have to jump on for a ride! I had a run in with the evil things a few years ago! I lost my balance at the top and the next thing I know I'm hanging onto the rail with my legs trailing behind me! I got to the bottom and the front of my shins look like a shark has been munching on them… very painful and not a pretty sight! I couldn't walk properly for 2 weeks and still have the scars! Ironically I had just bought a pair of knee high boots!!! Pity I wasn't wearing them

By: ellennow

ellennow — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:07:15 +0000

Escalators scare me to death! I’m developed a few workarounds like elevators and stairs for the days I just can’t get up enough nerve. A vivid memory I have from back in the day… my mother had my sister in one arm, the stroller, shopping bags, and my brother when I decided not to get on the escalator. We were in Montgomery Wards, I was screaming I can’t get on, my Mom was half crazed because she was at the bottom and I was at the top. Perfect strangers were offering to help me, which didn’t help. After about 15 minutes of me screaming and her begging me to get on, and a crowd forming to watch how this was going to play out, I stepped on, applause broke out. I just don’t like the idea of all that metal moving so fast along with the fact I’m a klutz and have stumbled both getting on and off since birth.

P.S. This fear carries over to ski lifts as well. I’ve learned the only way I can ride them is if I’m accompanied by a small child in which case they will sort of stop the lift let you get on and at the top they do the same. Of course if I don’t get that belt fastened within the first 5 seconds the whole fear of heights kicks in and we ride “la natural” all the way up because I am paralyzed with fear.

By: Grandma Connie

Grandma Connie — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:34:59 +0000

Daphne,
You are not alone girl! I am petrified of escalators, partly because I now have mobility issues because of a rare spinal cord condition that wasn't discovered until I was 48. I can't always tell where my feet are. But, even before that I had problems. I grew up in a small villiage outside of a small city in Canada and our city only had 1 escalator. That was a big deal and I had a real love/hate relationship with that monster. And now, going up an escalator is fine, if I must, but coming down is like a cartoon when they try to take a cat somewhere and the cat's claws become embedded in the ceiling and the ceiling comes with you. And when I'm near the top, it's like standing at the top of the CN tower with no fences, glass or guardrails. I feel like a strong wind would just push me over the edge. Someone told me once about some statistic that escalators cause so much percentage of serious injuries to kids. Yikes, even snakes don't creep me out this much. Years ago at a LLL International convention (lots of mothers and children) in Toronto I saw a little boy whose shoe lace got caught in the escalator and there was a huge hysterical screaming scene until someone pressed the emergency stop button. That meant many of the people on the escalator at that moment (many Moms with babies) fell, because of the sudden stop. Now I have to go have a bottle or so of wine so I can stop thinking about it!
P.S. There's another long story about how the hotel tried to cope with the emergency and the reality that there were several hundreds of small children attending with their mothers. I'll save it for the next time Daphne wants to drive me to a whimpering drunken evening.

NOTE FROM DAPHNE: Nicely written, thanks for this.. I think.

By: Daphne

Daphne — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:37:49 +0000

that's true. maybe it will change after you have your baby!

Jenny, yes, yes, and yes.

By: bluejeanamy

bluejeanamy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:24:57 +0000

i *wish* i were afraid of escalators instead of flying!

just b/c usually there's an easy alternate route…

wanna swap??

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:27:56 +0000

I so share this fear, and it got worse when I had a kid too. I stand at the top of the escalator and feel like I'm about to go down a 100-foot drop on a roller coaster. It's the closest I've come to a full-blown panic attack. And of course my daughter is fearless and tries to walk down, dragging me with her toward certain death.

Thank god for Cabernet and bedtime.

By: Daphne

Daphne — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:14:27 +0000

even going up doesn't bother me, its just going down! glad macy's gave you a skirt Fa. and glad to know that even though you had mishaps your flesh wasn't shredded.

and as always…glad it's not just me!

By: Renee

Renee — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:42:25 +0000

I'm wondering how you feel about the moving side walks?

Can you go up the escalator?

I'm OK with escalator's until it's time to get off. I've never got the rhythm it takes to just step off and keep going. There is always this awkward new born dear learning to walk moment while everyone piles up behind me.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:41:06 +0000

Oh, I used to be so afraid of escalators. My mother would just yank me by the arm and drag me up. It was awful.

As I became older, I'd just hesitate at the bottom, trying to get my courage up, and waiting for "the perfect time" to jump on. Add a few people impatiently behind you, and it was cause for major sweats.

Then, I just forgot about that…but now I remember it all. I used to be really scared of walking across those see through grated bridges, too. Precious Jesus, it was awful and heart pounding.

Now I'm just scared and become light headed at the thought of left hand turns!! ARGH!

By: Fa

Fa — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:01:23 +0000

I'm sorry Daphne, I am also a bit afraid of escalators because I've had two accidents on them. Not sure if sharing them with you will make your fear worse but they weren't that terrible.

The first time it was Christmas Eve and I was in Macy's in 34th Street in NYC. I wasn't paying attention as I was going up the escalators and my long skirt started getting pulled in through the sides of the escalators until the escalators STOPPED. I was mortified, so embarrassed because the store was so crowded and there I was unable to move because the escalator had eaten my skirt. I wasn't injured or anything, the skirt was pretty stretchy. I was just stuck there wishing to die while we waited for security. People were walking off the escalator and giving me the strangest glares. The maintenance peopole just put the escalators in reverse and it gave me back my torn skirt. Macy's let me pick out a skirt of my choice.

Another time we were on vacation in Prague and the escalators were just as you described when you went to England. They were long and narrow and very steep. I think my heel got stuck and that's how I started tumbling down and landed on all fours on the middle steps and finished the rest of the long ride down on all fours. When my husband saw that I wasn't badly hurt he went to a corner and laughed hysterically.

For these two reasons I rarely go on escalators and when I do I am super extra careful, especially when my kids are with me–they LOVE escalators.