Temporary stairgates

[genia]

Hi
At Christmas we are going to stay with my parents (which I am dreading slightly but that's another thread!) and I was looking for temporary stairgates on the internet. I found some on gltc.co.uk but unfortunately my parents have weird banisters consisting of metal kind of rods on one side and the wall on the other so those suction pads wouldn't work. Does anyone have any ideas what we could do? I definitely want to do something as my parents have horrible marble stairs and we have a VERY mobile one year old.
Thanks.
Eugenia

genia, I am very out of touch with current baby technology, but could you get a conventional wooden or metal gate with hinges one side and a catch the other, but use some kind of tie/chain/padlock on the metal rods instead of the catch? (Or wouldn't they want a gate fixed to their wall?) (But if you were likely to visit again soon it would be useful?)

Probably way off beam here! Hope your Christmas turns out not too bad!

Would you be able to take a sheet of light hardboard with you to "fill in" the bannister rails? I'd think you could probably drill little holes the width of each bannister rod and then thread wire through to attach the board. LOL, I can just imagine going equipped with a little saw to cut the board into shape, a small drill and a supply of sturdy wire plant ties!!

What I was thinking of though is this would enable you to use one of the roller type travel stairgates, probably the ones you saw on GLTC?