UK’s Daily Mail has a fascinating story out of Russia of bureaucratic promises and a man without functional legs who bought an apartment on the fifth floor of a building that has no elevator. Amazingly, instead of finding a first floor apartment for the man, the local council promised to install an elevator in the building.
After six years of waiting and requiring someone to carry him up and down, Dmitry Bibikow installed his own lift. Being experienced in rock climbing (the cause of his injury), Dmitry can now get up to his apartment faster than his biped neighbors.
From Daily Mail:
It was like being in a prison – so I decided to sort it out myself.’
With a little the help from his friends, the former sky diver and mountaineer built his own personal lift to haul him up the side of the building.
When not being used, the winch stays up on the fifth floor. It can be lowered by hand or electronically from ground level.
Now Mr Bibikow, married and a father of one, says he can get in and out within minutes and can even beat his neighbours to the fifth floor.
(hat tip: Gizmodo)