It’s winter. It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s probably still Monday. And this rat is stuck on an endless staircase.

In strangely mesmerising footage that could see us through to the other side of the shortest day of the year, the rodent struggles to break free from the escalator’s inexorable cycle.

Jonathan Beilin, the man who filmed the video on San Francisco’s Bart public transport network, said he tried to free the rat from his ouroboros-like existence by creating a makeshift ramp with a book.

But the rat ignored his rescue attempt and kept on running, running – he’s probably still there now.

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