No. Not the front door kind. I'm talking shops and supermarkets, where the automatic doors slide merrily back and forth all day, often just when people are passing them and not going in at all.
My point is, we have been told to conserve energy. This week we have been roundly ticked off for leaving appliances on standby. Ok. Point taken. But what about the huge amount of energy being used by all these doors? When did we lose the ability to open doors for ourselves? Do we really need automatic doors at all? For wheelchair-users for example, of course. Smaller special doors could be allocated for their use. But the rest of us?
And there are hidden dangers, too. Am I the only person who has charged confidently towards a door, only to find that it is not automatic, with near-fatal consequences? I think we should go back to the good old days when we opened doors all by ourselves, like grown- ups.
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I don't like automatic doors, Frances - especially the kind that go round as I always imagine being trapped inside them and I'm a bit claustraphobic!
ReplyDeleteI don't like those, either. I worry tht they'll start whizzing round, ever faster, until I've been mashed to a pulp!
DeleteAt the shopping centre here in town, they simply leave the large doors open all day anyway, no matter the temperature outside. Inside, when it is cold, you are greeted by what the centre manager told me is called "Warmluftschleier", literally a veil of warm air - and he says it is proven that this curtain of hot air conserves the warmth inside the building better than any glass door panels could.
ReplyDeleteAs for sliding doors, I hate the ones on lifts. They seem to have a life of their own and snap at people's elbows and behinds when they are trying to get in our out.
Oh, lift doors! Horrible!
DeletePeople have actually got killed through walking in to glass doors. Mind you I do appreciate those ones in supermarkets, it would be no fun with a full trolley and a couple of kids if tey did not work. It's the places that light themselves up all night that annoy me.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jenny. Lights on all night are not necessary, whereas having my very slow PC on standby IS!
DeleteI don't think I can remember a supermarket without an automatic door. Imagine everyone trying to get through with their trolleys. Trolleymania I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the early supermarkets didn't have automatic doors, but it was a very long time ago!
DeleteI think a person should be employed to open the door - that'd solve the unemployment problem. Please don't let them say 'have a nice day' though.
ReplyDeletePatsy, that is brilliant! You could save the planet (or a small piece of planet) overnight with this one! But absolutely no 'nice day'; I agree.
ReplyDeleteNever mind the trolleys it's bad enough trying to get through manual doors when everyone else is trying the same and your arms are full of groceries.
ReplyDeleteWould I be correct in saying that you won't be one of those who, like me, think that the automatic tail-gate on my tourer is a brilliant innovation as well. Particularly when I charging towards it with hands full of grocery bags.
GB, I had no idea there was such a thing! I suppose soon our front doors wii fly open when they see us coming, while the kettle puts itself on to boil and a disembodied voice welcomes us home.
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