Letter: Step too far
The three doctors and the professor who hold the view that the Waverley Steps in Edinburgh should not have an escalator (Letters, 5 February) should try climbing them with asthma, arthritis and a wheelie-bag.
I'm pretty good on the flat, but rubbish at climbing steps. My choices are: 1, to go the long way round, coming out at the top of an unrelenting slope on to Waverley Bridge and then walking up a steeper slope to Princes Street; 2, to pay for a taxi (out of my pension?) to get me out of the station; 3, if I'm lucky and the Princes Mall is still open, to climb up only some of the Waverley Steps and then use the lift inside the mall; or 4, to face the killing ordeal of climbing all the way up to the top of the steps.
Whether or not I am responsible for my present ailments, there are many more older people like me. Have a little pity, gentlemen!
HAZEL FORSYTH
Hamburgh Place
Leith