Thursday, September 25, 2008

My apartment locked me out

This has been an afternoon with a difference.

My apartment took on a life of its own and locked me out.

We have a ground floor apartment. I went out through the back door, pulled it shut to keep the humidity out but when I tried to open it I couldn't. Somehow the door had locked itself.

The front door key was in the lock, on the inside. The back door key was in the lock, on the inside. The sliding windows were locked. All my keys were inside while I was on the outside.

I found the maintenance man. A master key was no good because with the keys in the locks from the inside the master won't work.

He and two of his colleagues had lengthy discussions, prodded at the lock, fiddled with the windows.

Finally a decision was made - they'd have to drill out the door lock.

Off he went to get his drill, leaving his offsider and his toolbox.

Out came the hammer and a chisel.

I'm a great believer in basic tools like that, a hammer being my favourite. Mine is the 'if in doubt, give it a clout' school of engineering.

A bit of banging and crashing and somehow he managed to dislodge a piece of metal from inside, between the door and the frame, and yanked the door open.

Ten minutes of repair to the damaged piece of metal and the door is, almost, back as it was.

How the door locked itself is a mystery. I'll have to be very careful in future.

8 comments:

Em said...

oooo..perhaps it was a cheeky poltergeist?

redstar said...

Not the first time I've heard of this in the Marine. A colleague had a friend get locked into his spare room, for no apparent reason. Workmen who fixed it seemed to know immediately what the problem was and implied it's often happened before.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha. Great story althoughnot at the time I am sure! My toilet door locked itself recently and I don;t know how.

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Dubai apartments

The Mupersans said...

It was the humidity.....

CG said...

I hope you were not in the nuddy.

Seabee said...

CG, everyone's worst nightmare - but no, I was very casually dressed but dressed.

i*maginate said...

casually dressed but dressed.

>

what does that look like, seabee? Put up a photo for the record ;-)

Seabee said...

i* it looks very, very scruffy. Old torn T-shirt, gym shorts, no shoes, because I was planning to do some cleaning-up work in the garden.

I'll pass on the opportunity to post a pic.