Acrophobia (the same word in Russian - акрофобия) is the posh word for a fear of heights. Many people have phobias and this is (one of!) mine.
In Moscow I live on the tenth floor of a block of flats. In my mind I am happy with the tenth floor and have lived here harmoniously for a little over four years.
Recently though I acquired a new student who lives on the 15th floor! What a struggle it was in the beginning to talk myself into going THAT high. On the very first visit I acclimatized my brain by going up to the 11th floor, then back down, up to the 12th then back down and so on..... The student was beginning to wonder where I had got to by the time I finally arrived on the 15th floor!
Now, however, I am quite blasé about it. 15 floors - no problem. I'm even managing to look out of his window on the odd occasion.
You might just be able to make out from the photo that there are 17 floors worth of lift buttons but only the first 15 are shiny. The last two floors don't exist, or if they do the lift doesn't go there. Perhaps the builder ran out of money after building 15 floors.
I have a friend who lives on the 22nd floor. It may take a little while longer before I reach those dizzy heights! We'll see.
Strangely, but happily given the amount of flying I do, I'm OK on aeroplanes.
Today's video clip has to be the Byrds singing "eight miles high". I've just had a look at the lyrics. They don't make any sense to me. I've reached the conclusion they were implying a different meaning to the word "high". The Wikipedia entry for the song endorses my impression. Apparently this song was among the first of the "psychedelic rock" genre. I was around in the 60s but didn't swing in quite those circles!
In Moscow I live on the tenth floor of a block of flats. In my mind I am happy with the tenth floor and have lived here harmoniously for a little over four years.
Recently though I acquired a new student who lives on the 15th floor! What a struggle it was in the beginning to talk myself into going THAT high. On the very first visit I acclimatized my brain by going up to the 11th floor, then back down, up to the 12th then back down and so on..... The student was beginning to wonder where I had got to by the time I finally arrived on the 15th floor!
Now, however, I am quite blasé about it. 15 floors - no problem. I'm even managing to look out of his window on the odd occasion.
You might just be able to make out from the photo that there are 17 floors worth of lift buttons but only the first 15 are shiny. The last two floors don't exist, or if they do the lift doesn't go there. Perhaps the builder ran out of money after building 15 floors.
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Strangely, but happily given the amount of flying I do, I'm OK on aeroplanes.
Today's video clip has to be the Byrds singing "eight miles high". I've just had a look at the lyrics. They don't make any sense to me. I've reached the conclusion they were implying a different meaning to the word "high". The Wikipedia entry for the song endorses my impression. Apparently this song was among the first of the "psychedelic rock" genre. I was around in the 60s but didn't swing in quite those circles!
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