I don't do lifts anymore

The one fear I have is riding in a lift. haven't always been like that and it has just been a build up of bad experiences over time.In my mind I can think of nothing worse than being trapped in a steel coffin.

In the past I have been up to some high floors in a lift and thought nothing of it.I don't really like heights at the best of times and would rather look up than look down.

When I was younger one of my friends managed to jam a lift by playing with the buttons.I was not happy seeing the doors open and just seeing brickwork in front of me.It turned out fine as the lift started to work again,but it had created a phobia.

Fast forward 20 years and I had to clear some shipping papers for a container that was arriving.If I am not mistaken that was on the 18 th floor of a building called John Ross House.On the way up the lift rattled and shook and I wasn't comfortable.The building was virtually deserted as floors were taped off on the lift buttons,showing they were vacant. After doing the paperwork I decided to use the stairs.A few days later I was reading about 3 people that had died in a lift.The lift cables had failed and had fallen with the people inside. The lift was the same one I had used a few days earlier at John Ross House.

Lucky escape in this building when the cables snapped and the lift dropped 84 floors before getting wedged between the 11th and 12th floors.

A couple of years ago I was visiting a government building with a work colleague in Johannesburg and caught the lift to the third floor.The lift however didn't stop at the third floor but went ridiculously fast to the top floor.It didn't even line up with the floor and we both jumped out at the same time as the door opened.That ride was like watching my life pass before me and has been the last time I have used a lift.

I don't know what it is but I will rather take a few more minutes climbing the stairs than riding a lift.

Image source news.sky.com and thegate.boardingarea.com