The math department at Komplexify U is housed in a stately brick building with massive white pillars. It’s also quite old, and what was once an imposing staircase leading up into it had, after decades of students stomping up and down, crumbled into not much more than a concrete inclined plane. It was therefore a relief when the University decided to have them rebuilt last year.
The new stairs, in addition to being, well, flat and unbroken (which is already a significant improvement over their previous incarnation) also have a metal heating coil buried in them, which heats the stairs to remove snow build up from them.
So on the plus side our stairs are now always clear of slippery ice, making the hike up to my office significantly safer.
On the minus side, however, the sight of the building’s stairs and walkways seething with plumes of steam in the cold hours of early morning make it look I work not in a math department, but rather in the Bowels of Hell.
