No, but seriously somebody eventually let him back in. But that is not a very good ending for a story.

Well, he froze to death, of course.

The problem is that on many days of the year, maybe a dozen in the summer and a few dozen in the winter, a normal person will be inclined to get their coat, hat, umbrella, warm hat, gloves, whaever, to go from their office in one of the skyscrapers to a place to grab lunch or do some other errand. But with the skyways you just go in your shirttails. It creates a sense of, and reality of, a community, much like having a kitchen area embedded in a workplace, but much larger, with all the workplaces.

It is only a little about having the ability to go outside and not die.

True story: My father, reasonably influential in the local city development and planning, visited Minneapolis and brought the idea back home, where one small skyway was built before everyone turned on the ida and the project was not further developed. So there is a sports arena hooked to a hotel, that’s it. But that’s not the story.

When he was visiting Minneapolis, it was a conference, and he spent the whole day visiting places within the skyway system, going to parts of the conference, having lunch/dinner with people, etc. then, at the end of the day, he found himself exiting the skyway about five blocks from his hotel, but it was late at night, so he was locked out in 20 below weather without a coat. There was nobody around to help or let him back in.

I’m actually not sure how it works these days, if the skyways lock like that at some point.

Hardly. I was a bit too extreme — one in GR has a walkway between its building and parking ramp, but nothing more extensive.

Not where I am, however, and I simply prefer to be outside as much and as often as I can.

We don’t have those walkways here in Michigan. 🙂