Ascending and descending.

(PAW2009 29/52)

I had a potter around Belfast at lunchtime, today. Coming in, I noticed how much construction is going on again. In the past month or so, the Obel Tower has started to shoot up again, and is moving quickly. It’s not the only one, either.

I took a walk through Victoria Square. Even though it’s been open for more than a year, today was the first time I went up to the dome and actually had a look out. The views are good enough, but they’re dominated by the roofs of the shopping centre around. It was on the dander back down the spiralling stairs that I looked down and noticed the lines made by the escalators and the walls.

We were there last week, as well. Paperchase was deemed a suitable supplier of birthday cards, so we decided to brave a visit to Belfast’s premier under-occupied premium and luxury shopping centre with a pram and small child in tow. It turns out that the lifts in Victoria Square don’t seem to work to any noticeable pattern. I’m used to lifts where you push the button to indicate whether you’re going up or down, and when a car arrives a helpful light tells you if it’s going your way. Apparently not in Victoria Square.

Rather, the lift arrives and offers no indication of whether it will go up or down. On the ‘Lower Ground’ floor we pushed the down button, to get down one level to the car park. A lift came down, the doors opened and we got in. We pushed the button for ‘B1’ or somesuch, and the lift started to rise. We made it all the way up to the dome before it started back down, stopping at each floor on the way. We got to the car eventually.

I had tried to get the pram up and down the escalators earlier in the day. Up’s okay, but down isn’t as easy as it looks. Next time, the child goes in the sling-carrier-thing.