Elevators’ song

To go upstairs on foot or to take an overaged elevator?-that’s the question that the residents of 22 high-rise buildings in Stepanakert have to answer daily.

32 seconds

My parents bought a new apartment on the 8th floor two years ago. I already know the elevator inside and out. If you press a call button and don’t hear a usual hum, it means that elevator is broken, or as my old neighbor puts it: “No-go, home arrest! 

The door opened.  Although there isn’t a single trace of numbers on the buttons, I can blindly find a necessary floor button. If a finger half sinks in the button-itsground floor. Then you should raise your finger to the topmost button, then move it slightly right- and here it is, the 8th floor button. 

There is no need to close your eyes, since there has been no electricity in the elevator for already two months.  Fortunately, there is aflashlight on the cell phone. After you press the button, it will take the elevator 32 seconds to reach the last 8th floor. 

15 minutes of jazz

It was morning. I got into the elevator’s cabin, where it was dark as usual. I was listening to Miles Davis’s studio album ‘Kind of Blue’ though the earphones. Sometimes complex sequence of chords and riffs muted the habitual wheezingof the bearings. Jazz predominated in the elevator for 32 seconds.

However, the elevator’s door didn’t open at the 33rdsecond, as it had always been over the past two years, probably because the tension passed to the elevator’s motor had exceeded a limit or a bearing had cracked but a spark jumped between the contacts. 

The elevator stood motionless for 15 minutes. It was time for jazz, 15 minutes of jazz. Then rescuers half-opened the blocked door and I managed to squeeze through a gap.  

A musical elevator

Today, many people live in high-rise buildings and use elevators. There certainly are some ‘heroes’, who aren’tlazy to go up on the 8th floor on foot, but there are quite a few such sportsmen, especially when someone  returns from a wedding party drunk. That’s exactly what happened in our house just recently.

It was 10 p.m., whenthe residents of our high-rise building learnt that the elevator got out of order once again. Since it was late, nobody called an elevator attendant, because he would anyway come only in the morning. But…

an hour and a half later, at 11:20 p.m.,Galina, who resided on the 6th floor and who got sick and tire of continuous signing, ran out ontothe stair landing. The drunk sounds of someone singing were coming from the elevator.

All neighbors gathered there within 5 minutes. They waited for help for about 20-30 minutes. Then Galina was called on a cell phone and told that the elevator attendant was to come soon.

A rescuer really came soon and told that the elevator’s cabin was right on the 6th floor. He opened the door quickly.  

It turned out that the guy, who was singing in the elevator all that time, was Grant, who had returned from his relative’s wedding party. 

Since that time, the elevator in a residential building in Tigran Metz street has become famous and is referred to as ‘a musical elevator.’

Irreplaceable

Stepanakert’s‘youngest’ elevator is 30 years old. Elevatorbreakdown cases are reportedalmost daily, or at least several times a week. However, no incidents have been reported over the past few years.

“G. Dolukhanyan, a private entrepreneur, tries to ensure residents’ safetythrough partial repair works. Theelevatorsare more often under repair than they actually work. And their lift coefficient is reducing day by day.

Elevator replacement is funded from the state budget. AMD15million (approx. US$31,000) are required to replace one elevator. According to thehousing and public utilities administration, it is going to replace 1 elevator per year starting from 2017. So, when will our high-rise building’s turn come? 

There are a total of22 high-rise residential buildings in Stepanakert. For quite a long time the residents will still have to decide, whether to go upstairs on foot or take anoveraged elevator.

The opinions expressed in this article convey the author’s views and terminology and don’t necessarily reflect the position of the editorial staff.

Published: 24.11.2016