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I'm sure everyone must have locked themsleves out at some time, I've done it twice that I can think of.

Once when I was still living at home, I managed to climb in through a little tiny window in the porch and another time a couple of years ago. Had to wait 2 hours for Dave to come home, actually it wasn't too bad, I popped to the pub for a drink and a natter while I waited for him.

I locked myself out of my apartment once. Lucky for me I remembered I had not locked my bedroom window. The problem was the window was facing an alley. and was above a fire escape that was really just a twisting metal stair case that led to my balcony. . (I was on the 3rd floor). By standing on the railing of the stair case (which was percarius at best) I could reach the window ledge and pull myself up and pull the window up. What I forgot about was the screen so there I am perched on the edge of my window 3 floors off the ground cutting the screen with my pocket knife and I'm almost in when I hear a voice asking if they could help me. I look down and its the police. After it was all sorted out we had a good laugh about it. He told me he was actually going to go around the front and wait for me because he was afraid that If he said anything I would pannick and fall out the window. He didn't really think I was a thief because they would have simply gone to my balcony and broken a window rather then hang on to the side of the building to find an unlocked window.

Lady of Mystery wrote:Once when I was still living at home, I managed to climb in through a little tiny window in the porch and another time a couple of years ago. Had to wait 2 hours for Dave to come home, actually it wasn't too bad, I popped to the pub for a drink and a natter while I waited for him.

But that's cheating!

Lady of Mystery wrote:I'm sure everyone must have locked themsleves out at some time, I've done it twice that I can think of.

I once locked myself out, had to get a friend to drive me half way across town to the house where a spare key was kept, and when we got there I realised I had my own key in my pocket all the time. (Just a bit of explanation: the house with the spare key in it was a place owned by my parents and usually vacant, but occasionally people stayed there at my parents' invitation. A key to get inside was hidden in a secret location around the back, and a spare key to my place was hanging on a hook inside.)

On another occasion, I locked myself out, and had to ask a taxi to drive me to the aforementioned house. This was very late at night, and I've forgotten how I got the taxi, but anyway . . . having got there, it turned out that someone was staying there that night, so I knocked on the door/window but nobody answered. Thinking on my feet, I then asked the taxi driver to take me to the nearest public phone so that I could call the number and ask the occupant if I could come by and pick up my keys. After I'd picked up my keys, the taxi took me home, and everyone lived happily ever after until morning.

(I have a feeling that I wasn't even able to pay the driver until I got home, and had to borrow a few coins for the phone call, but it was a long time ago. I do remember feeling that if the phone call didn't work I would have had no options open to me except to ask the driver to take me to the police or something so I could ask them to help sort it out.)

My husband used to be a locksmith (in London in the '70s-'80s). He got fed up from time to time with people complaining about the price when he got a door unlocked so fast. Apart from the fact that you're also asking him to drive out to you and back, you also have to remember that you're paying for training, tools, office support, etc.

Not a gripe, just a mention.

Because of where he was based, he often got called out to a block of flats inhabited almost entirely by high-class prostitutes. Had several "interesting" offers of payment. His standard refusal line was, "Thanks for the offer, but when I go back to the office they'll expect money."

His single worst job was being asked to open a safe in Scotland Yard that had been stuffed full of assorted explosives and then forgotten for about 10 years. They asked if he wanted a protective suit. He said, "If it goes off, the whole building will be gone." Picture several cops slowly backing out of the room. It came open, and the explosives were just as unstable as anything. Sticks of dynamite sweating nitroglycerine. Presumably the bomb squad took over from that point.

just a mention but adding locks to a door doesnt strengthen it but weakens it.....a good mortice and a yale should put of housebreakers (its after all 95% of the time a crime of opportunity)