It Wasn't Funny At The Time

So yesterday started out really well (with the Bond being lodged at the Deeds office). The work day was pretty average, neither here nor there. Then there was a bit in the late afternoon, that I'll tell you about now, but caused absolute panic. And then it ended off really nicely with a friend over for dinner. A mostly good day :)

Right, let me start by saying that this was probably bound to happen at some point, but yesterday afternoon, Murphy hit. I managed to lock myself in my garden, with no phone and no keys.

I noticed about a week ago that the sliding door latch was a bit loose because I almost had a minor panic one afternoon while outside because I thought I had locked myself out by shutting it (which is standard practice when the bunnies are out because the last thing I need is them in the house!). The sliding door locks with the lever in the down position. And being loose, gravity seems to lock it. Although this had never actually happened till yesterday.

When I got the fright a week ago I joked that I should put a spare set of keys in my garden (not that I could open the sliding door anyway, but if I had my house keys I could open the padlock on the garage door and get back in the front. Or that I should keep my cellphone with me whenever I went outside (to call The Trucker and his spare keys). We joked that I didn't know his number off by heart (that's what cellphones will do to you). And I've been pretty conscientious about it since.

Yesterday, I got home from gym, planning to shower and had a quick catch up with The Trucker on bbm. He was heading out to help some friends with their computer, he knew I had @jarredcinman coming over for dinner that evening. But then I decided to rather replant my potted rose into my garden before I showered, since I was hot and sweaty already, why not.

So I did that while the bunnies played and then when I was about to head inside to put out the garden refuse, I noticed the lever had fallen. OMG. Minor panic set it. I pulled at the door. Nothing. I tugged at it even harder. Still nothing. Quick look around for my keys ... nope there they are inside on the kitchen counter - damn gym outfits with no pockets! And my Cellphone was charging on my bed ...

OMG More panic sets in. What on earth am I going to do. My sliding door is locked, my garage is locked. I was locked in my garden! Mkay, lets stay calm. (Yeah right!).

I probably spent a good half hour in a state of absolute panic (you know where you wonder how long it'd take for anyone to notice you were missing ...). Knowing I still didn't know The Trucker's number, knowing that @jarredcinman wouldn't even be let thru the gate later since I couldn't answer the phone when the gate-guards phoned me. I attempted absolutely every option available to me. By the time The Trucker did arrive to let me out, there was a full arsenal of rakes and brooms and pergola's lost to my bedroom floor (that was the only window that was open) in an attempt to pull my cellphone from my bed and out of the charger (impossible from that distance, as my attempts will attest).

I weighed up throwing a brick thru a window ... but with all the bars, I still wouldn't be any closer to getting inside. Unless I broke the entire sliding door glass. I can only imagine how much that would cost :P So that was really only my last resort.

Instead I eventually (after major panic had set in and I'd had a mild bout of sobbing) went to try yelling for someone thru the hole in my garage door. And then I heard my neighbours drive in. My neighbours who I had never met before this. I can only imagine the great impression I've made, but they were very helpful :)

OMG. Do you have a bolt-cutter I asked, still determined to be self sufficient. I figured if I could get out by cutting the padlock on the garage door and then into the kitchen courtyard by cutting that padlock too, I might have a chance to reach my keys from the slightly open kitchen window.

Nope, they didn't. I asked them to ask the gate-guards. No luck there either. Then I had a brain wave. I borrowed my neighbour's phone and phoned work. I had The Trucker's business card saved on my desktop from about probably a year ago. So someone from work phoned him to tell him I was locked in my garden. #sigh

He was fabulous about it and raced over (luckily he wasn't far away) and had a good laugh at me :P But he did unscrew the sliding door lock and take a look. And it seems tighter since then. But I am still buying a new one this weekend!!

After I got over my disappointment that he hadn't shown up in any armour or on a white horse, he went back to his friends to finish working on their computer and I got showered and ready for @jarredcinman's arrival.

The evening was lovely. We ate vegan burgers outside on my verrandah and drank some very good wine he brought and caught up. It really has been far too long! I didn't realise how much I'd missed chatting to him.