Thanks very much for the link. I spent most of the day yesterday looking for steampunk reference pictures. I'm in an artistic competition using a steampunk theme at the moment.
I remember reading on damninteresting.com about how cats are hard wired to fixate on their "prey" and block out other things, like walls for instance. It's in their article on High Rise Syndrome. Still, ouch.
It would probably take you a few goes to get accustomed to them, but after a while they'd be just like any other stairs I bet. Any word on if they are spaced normally or not?
"embarassed by men in automobiles and on street corners" sounds more like unwanted flirting to me. I already had this one saved on my hd. Never know what historical reference you might need in the future.
Still, ouch.