You grew up in the same area and era that my husband did. When his family moved out there, it was still filled with orchards in various parts. My husband cut apricots for a canning factory as a teenager, over a summer, for instance.
His family moved there and bought a new two-story when developments began taking hold. It was cheaper than one stories per square foot. More of that happened as freeway on/off ramps spread, making commutes easier.
The Willow Glen area has/had charming bungalows, for instance, but there and in various areas more and more were expanded (sometimes into two stories) or sometimes scraped, because Bay Area real estate prices shot up with the tech industry growing. That type of thing happens in various parts of the country as jobs grow and land becomes in greater demand.
I did a cat sit in a house like that in Amsterdam. Two narrow spiral staircases to go to the loo in the middle of the night . And I have a stair phobia !
Just for interest, hereâs the origin of the word âbungalowâ: 1670s, Anglo-Indian, âone-story thatched house,â usually surrounded by a veranda, from Gujarati bangalo, from Hindi bangla âlow, thatched house,â literally âBengalese,â used elliptically for âhouse in the Bengal styleâ (from the Online Etymology Dictionary).
Millions of Glaswegians (I live in Glasgow) manage stairs like this, including with dogs, without incident. Yes I agree that if anyone has difficulties with stairs they should avoid a sit that has them. You can look at the photos, and you will have a video call before you accept the sit, so youâll know ahead of time
I didnât have problems with the stairs, but anyone can get accidentally tripped up by say a dog or cat.
Iâd say solo sitters should be especially careful, because if you fall, it might take longer to get help. And that means the pets might be stuck without food or being let out for awhile. That could likewise happen to a solo pet parent at home.
When I was a PhD student, a colleague fell from the stairs in his own home, broke his neck, and died. He had been carrying old newspapers to the recycling bin.
So in an unfamiliar home, the risk is larger. And then the pet in the arms of a person that the pet is not familiar with. So I would refuse to do that. The pet can walk the stairs.
I donât think most people usually carry pets up or down stairs if they donât need to.
Some older pets can no longer go up or down without help, though. For instance, I sat one who was elderly and falling apart and she couldnât even get on a sofa without help. That home had two flights of stairs â one just to reach the living area and kitchen.
Not related to sitting, but one of my in-lawâs siblings fell down stairs as a 20-something and their friends put them to bed, thinking theyâd rest up. Turns out it was a spinal injury that ended up in death.
Stairs are a major cause of injuries at home just generally. Doesnât matter if you mightâve grown up with stairs or spent decades using them at home â all it takes is one serious fall to cause injury or death.
A good friend experienced this: Her mother-in-law went to the basement for laundry and fell down the stairs. Her husband found her hours later, dead.
Funny you bring this up. Two friends of mine and I petsat in Brighton, England a few years ago. The homeowners did say that it was a 3 story home and right before we left California, they happened to mention that the husband built a rail out of 3â thick rope right before we were set to arrive. We all lived in single story homes so it was an adjustment.
We became VERY dependent on that rope rail and canât imagine how they raised a child there. You walked into the living room, went downstairs below street level for the kitchen and one of the bedrooms and went up to the 3rd floor for the rest. The bathroom was on the 2nd floor. The stairs were very steep and the depth of each step, was short. It certainly gave us our cardio for the day but I donât think it would have been safe at all if we hadnât had that rope rail.
@Crookie oh stop it! I havenât really had much warm weather in all Europe since arriving in May. Hanging out for some heat! Beautiful Qld, as you say
. And I have a stair phobia 
!
But what a majestic structure 
I havenât really had much warm weather in all Europe since arriving in May. Hanging out for some heat! Beautiful Qld, as you say 
