#4 Locks here are tricky

When Andrew and I first read our lease, we were nervous. There was a clause that if you forgot to lock the doors and the place was robbed, you were liable for all missing property of the landlord. Now, as most of you probably know, I am notorious about forgetting to lock up. In fact, we didn’t even start locking our house in Georgetown until my sister had her car broken into.  This was a problem waiting to happen. So we were somewhat relieved to find out that you can’t forget to lock the doors. That actually, every time the door closes, it locks itself. Good news: we won’t responsible for any of the property in our flat. Bad news: if you ever leave your keys on the other side of the automatically locking door, well, you are locked out. I always check and double check to make sure that I have my keys with me. But Saturday night, as Andrew was back in the states for work, I ran out the door without thinking. As the door was about to close,  I tried to get my foot in to prop it open. But it was too late. I looked in my purse and pockets hoping for my keys, but to no avail. I was locked out, and Andrew wouldn’t return until Monday morning, 36 hours later.  Now, it turns out that a lot of people have had this happen to them. So everyone had suggestions. One friend explained to me how to break in using a plastic coke bottle. Great idea, but didn’t work for me. Another friend explained I should just catch a train and get the keys from my flat mate. Brilliant, except my flat mate was an ocean away. I kept thinking why don’t people just call a locksmith when this happens. I quickly found out; the locksmiths here know that if it happens on a weekend, they are your only option for getting back in. So their weekend prices are outrageous. It would have cost 150 USD for me to get back inside. That wasn’t going to happen.   In the end I was very fortunate to have a friend offer me a place to stay until Andrew returned. Slumber party here I come! Fortunately Andrew took his keys with him, and had them in his pocket when he arrived on Monday morning. We are getting a copy of those keys made!