As a back up for opening our locked house, SWMBO and I buried a spare key to our back door to ensure we always had access no matter what. As a precaution we cleverly marked the spot so we could always locate the keep in quick time.

Last Thursday evening SWMBO called me outside to view a magnificent dying sunset.

The sunset was magnificent, my camera was urgently needed but it was not to be.

Unknown to both of us, the door we had used was now locked.  Did SWMBO have a key? No.  Did Have a key? No.

Not to worry said SWMBO, the front door will be OK. No so, locked and dead latched.

Last resort, back door. Again, no luck. Locked tight.

Things were looking grim, darkness was approaching fast and the temperature was dropping towards zero with similar speed.

It was my turn to say, ‘not to worry,’ and I added,’ we’ll use the spare key.’

A problem immediately became apparent. Neither of us could remember where, almost 18 years previously, we had buried the bloody thing.

As the light faded and our search was proving fruitless we decided a broken window was the answer.

Fortunately the back door has the smallest window in the house and it’s the last door we dead latch before bed time.

Next problem, how to break the glass. Where were the tools or implements I could use. All secured in the shed which was locked and dead latched of course.

A timber splitting wedge tucked away in the firewood came to the rescue and I attacked the pane of glass with gusto. No matter how I slammed the wedge against the glass it just bounced off. Then I remembered, we had specified toughened glass in every window.

As a last resort I took ten paces back and hurled the wedge with all my strength against the glass pane and low and behold, it smashed the glass. Access enabled.

I gingerly reached through the hole and was able to unlatch the door. SWMBO entered first and handed me some shoes as I’m habitually barefooted.

The wedge had flown straight through the glass, coming to rest on the  floor just before it would have penetrated an inside wall. As for the shattered glass, it was everywhere inside, big bits, little bits and minute bits.

As we were able to securely shut another door to close off mess we did so and popped down  to our favourite restaurant for dinner, leaving the mess for the morrow.

My little steel wedge finally did a great job, have a look:

This whole exercise was a real education:-

1   Always wear shoes when out in the yard.

2   Never go outside without my camera.

3   Always take a spare key when outside.,

4   Never rely on my memory for buried keys.

5   Don’t rely on a buried key, leave a key with a trusted neighbour( Now implemented).

6   ALWAYS REMEMBER TO LEAVE THE BACK DOOR UNLOCKED WHEN OUT IN THE YARD.

Hoo roo for now.