Lock & key

Friday, 11th of February 2022
Saturday, 12th of February 2022

My front door handle was broken since December, so I was using the back door for... actually months! Yesterday I finally called a locksmith and this morning a nice gentleman came and fixed my door. I almost forgot what it felt like to open the front door and sit on my front porch in the morning sun.

It’s so peaceful. As I sip my coffee I look around and see my spring bulbs slowly building up for the show. Last years foliage covers the drive and the ground around the plants. Pretty moss is growing on stones and in overwatered by the rain pots. My front garden will sure need some spring cleaning very soon…

Back to the gentlemen though. He said the mechanism inside my door was probably more than 25 years old and they don’t make these anymore. It's one of those 'fast locks' which don't need a key to lock it. All you do is lift the handle up and it's locked. He told me that many people have locked themselves out of the house and that's most likely why the don't use these locks anymore.

I've been using this outdated lock for 8 years now and at first I also was a bit weary of locking myself out, but with time I got used to making sure that I ALWAYS have my keys before leaving the house. The perk of this was that once the keys were in my pockets I didn't have to use them to actually lock the door, just lift the handle up and go.

Today I could have replaced the old mechanism with the new one, but Simon the locksmith also happened to have a second hand, working version of the one I had before, so I opted for this instead. He was not able to give me his usual 1 year warranty for this new, yet old lock, but hey - it's not like anything in life can be guaranteed anyway.

I told him that if it breaks, I'll call him anyway to which he answered that I should and he will not charge me for labour if it happens to break. Well, I meant I'll call him, cause I have him in my phonebook now and I'm too lazy to find another locksmith, but of course I won't say no to this. It sounds better than a warranty to me ;)

I don't know about you guys, but if I can give an old thing a second life, this is always my first choice. I love going to carboot sales and pick up stuff that people no longer want to use. Not only is the second hand option usually cheaper than new, but there is just less trash on our already trashed planet. I recycle and upcycle anything I can. Sometimes I take it too far and end up having 100's of plastic containers - 'wannabe plant pots' or pretty glass jars which I will use 'one day'.

That's when reality check comes in and I need to do some 'spring cleaning'. I guess BALANCE is always the KEY.

Of course, I love new shiny things too. So I let myself be spoiled by a brand new thing every now and again. I make it a treat rather than a rule. This way every purchase is well thought through and I only buy things I either really need or really, really like.

Speaking of reusing... As I was editing the picture of this article, I realised it has UMA written on it. That gave me an idea for a Valentines Card contest by SuperUmans. I'm not great with making poems, but hey - let's hope the judges will go for the looks ;)

Until next time 💙