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Like most people, my social life has been moved entirely online.
Phone calls, text messages and the occasional video call.
Just last week I was catching up with an old friend Lily, and she told me one of the funniest “locked out” stories I’ve ever heard.
As an emergency locksmith, we hear all kinds of stories:
“My keys fell down the drain”
“My key snapped off in the lock”
“I got drunk and have no idea where my keys are”
You get the gist?
But this one really made me chuckle.
Lily has two young boys. Like most brothers, they were the best of friends... and the worst of enemies.
On this particular morning, the boys had been bickering a LOT. Lily had had enough.
She sent them both to their rooms and told them not to come out until she came to get them.
All was well in the world… until she decided to take the rubbish out and the door swung shut behind her - locking her out in the street, in November - in her tiger-print onesie!
“No problem,” she thought, “the boys will let me in.”
She knocked on the door. No response. She rang the bell - but no one answered. Eventually, she could hear Joshua, the eldest, shouting from his bedroom “Mum! There’s someone at the door!” but he didn’t come down - he’d been told not to leave his room and taught NEVER to answer the door!
Just as Lily was prepping herself to walk down the lane to the neighbours, so she could call for help, Joshua wandered down and found his mum sat on the back doorstep, shivering.
He opened the door and said “Mum! What are you doing? I kept shouting and shouting! There was someone at the door and now you’ll have missed them!”
As she told me this story she laughed and laughed. I mean, what were the odds? How many things needed to fall into place for her to get locked out in the cold for so long?
If the kids hadn’t been sent to their rooms, they’d have opened the door in minutes.
If the gust of wind hadn’t blown the door shut, then all would have been well.
If the spare key Lily kept in the key safe hadn’t been given to the new cleaner she’d have been able to get in.
If she hadn’t spent years telling the children “Never to open the door alone!” then they may have come to her aide.
But that’s exactly the point! Sometimes, despite the odds, things just go terribly wrong. All we can do is have a plan in place for when they do.
So grab your mobile and pop our 24 hours emergency phone number (0800 0191 101) in your address book - then if the worst happens you’ll know just who to call.
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