In the underground, in department stores, in public buildings, I do not use escalators. In my building at the university, I do not use the elevators. In fact, I have not seen those two elevators from the inside for years. In general, I prefer to walk up and down the stairs than to use mechanical devices of any kind. I usually take two and sometimes three stairs at the time to simulate the mountains. Also, I walk up and down as quickly as I possibly can. But I stopped using the elevator at the Westbourne in London only since I returned from the Alps this summer. For some strange reason, this elevator remained outside my ban of such silly and harmful devices. As of several weeks ago, whenever I reach our apartment on the sixth floor, I feel simultaneously valiant, virtuous, and perhaps even victorious. “Another bad habit bit the dust,” I smile to myself as I try to catch my breath.