I have been watching the Paralympics with a range of amazement and awe of the courage & skills shown. I caught a taste of this phenomenon on my way home from work on friday

I travel through Westminster tube station every working day. It's quite a spectacle as it's very deep and it's open design showing it's three levels of escalators suspended in a huge shaft is stunning. It's modern and has all the mod cons you would expect, such as lifts for mobility impaired people.

For the last couple of weeks, there's been a huge rise in the number of wheelchair users in the station, many are Paralympic athletes who are sightseeing. Of course, as they finish their events, more have been hitting the tourist routes leading to about 30 wheelchair users trying to access the platforms on Friday's evening rush hour.

The lifts can only take perhaps two at a time, so the rest decided to use the escalators. They had to back on to the escalator and hold on to the handrails to prevent toppling back - not an easy task as the handrails rarely move at the same speed as the stairs! It was quite a sight. At one point I could see a dozen stacked wheelchairs in front of me and another 10 on the next level down.

It looked more that a bit dangerous, as one slip would have created a domino effect ending in an avalanche of wheels and bodies at the bottom. But I suppose when you have had your life turned upside down and then succeeded to compete in the PO Games, a little matter of descending a 40 metre deep series of escalators is nothing.

Inspiration

Been watching it here too.
Fantastic sportsmanship, no prima donnas and dummy-spitting like in the 5-ring circus.

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When a crash seems inevitable, try to hit the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

I am off to the England v Ukraine match at Wembley on Tuesday evening, where I reckon I'll see plenty of dummy spitting. Sad really that these so-called professionals so often let down the name of sport.