> An interesting side note here. The floor buttons in the lifts in my employer's building actually work by detecting the minute electrical charge the human body has

That *is* interesting. But the floor buttons in the elevators here are on the floor (where else) and it is necessary for the passenger to take of his or her shoe to get the button to work. A few people, who are younger and slimmer than me, can lean over and push the floor button with their hand, or even their nose if they wish. My only objection is that I have had to stop wearing socks, and have switched to loafers instead of lace up shoes for obvious reasons. Another problem is that the floor buttons are laid out like the key pad on a telephone and if you are going ten floors or above, you need to push two buttons. For some reason, you have to push and hold the first button before you push the second button. This is OK if you have a certain amount of dextarity in your toes, but as uncoordinated as I am, I have found it necessary to take off both shoes so I can push and hold. A few of the elevators have a bench seat across the back wall so that riders can sit down and put their shoes back on. This presents another problem, because the elevators are quite slow, and if I sit there too long, I tend to dose off and miss my floor. Then I have to take my shoes off again and it becomes an endless cycle. Would I lie to you?
Howard