Who said Rem Koolhaus was good for nothing?
I'm 5' tall. 5' 1.5" to be precise but basically 5' tall. I've normally reveled in my short stature. It gets me to the front of shows rather easily and really i've never wished to be that much taller. An inch or two wouldn't hurt but i'm ok as is.... UNTIL THE FIRE ALARM.
My flat has 10' ceilings. Beautiful but not so handy when the damn fire alarm that's bolted to the ceiling keeps jolting my every nerve every time it makes it's loud "EEEEEEEEEEEEH" noise because the battery needs to be replaced. I have a step ladder of course. How else would I reach those dishes and things that must be stored on the high shelves? Even with the step ladder though I can't reach the ceiling. I had this problem once before when the light bulb in my bathroom burnt out... luckily my 6' tall neighbor was around to be bribed with cider.
In scott's absence however it took my tallest pair of boots (very nice blood red platforms that I should wear more often), a 3" thick book on art history, a 5" thick copy of S, M, L, XL by Rem Koolhaus and extended tippy toes in order for my fingers to barely touch the ceiling. Of course, once I managed to remove the defunct battery the damn alarm kept squealing in it's nasty falsetto. Instead of just having this near death experience once I had to go to the store, buy a new 9 volt battery (does anything OTHER than fire alarms still use 9 volt batteries?) and take my precarious perch up the ladder one more time to put the thing back together.
I survived obviously. I nearly toppled the first time but the second time I had become a pro. So if anyone needs very tall batteries changed or light bulbs replaced... i'm yer girl (but only if I have pretentious dutch books on architecture to break my fall).