My dinner-making has been hindered by gate-related nonsense 
I was in the process of moving from stage 1 to stage 2 of making scouse in the InstantPot™ when the phone went, with the Caller ID showing "Landlord". This is very unusual, as that number is the sister of the chap I usually deal with, who tends to restrict herself to the business side of things; it must be years since I last spoke to her.
Now, a rumour has been going around that the council is going to install a new lock on the main back gate to where the cars and the bins live, the existing one having been broken for ages, and everybody's been in a flap because nobody knows how the business of replacing the existing keys will be handled. Now "Landlord" had received word from a bloke who leases various bits of storage space out the back, such as our old stable and a compound that used to be the garden of one of the houses in the side street, that the gate was locked and his key wouldn't open it, and she wanted to know if I'd heard anything about it.
I told her it had been fine at teatime when I went for my walk, and I thought it a bit unlikely that the council would send somebody to do the job in the evening, but I offered to go down and have a look. Doing so, I met storage guy in the hall downstairs, apparently on the phone to the other landlord chap I usually deal with. So out we both went.
Even in the dark, it looked to me like the lock hadn't been changed; I figured somebody had managed to lock it, which generally hasn't been possible for ages, but which has occasionally been achieved. Further experiment showed that neither storage guy's key nor mine could get it open, but that was because it was jammed, not because it was a new lock. This is why nobody even tries to lock it any more - if you manage it, you usually can't unlock it again.
Anyway, I eventually remembered a trick I worked out a few years ago when it had been playing up. I put my key in, turned it as far as it would go the wrong way, then turned it back - and the lock opened, smooth as anything
So I was the hero of the hour, we're still waiting for the panic that will ensue when the council really do change the lock, and I was able to get back to making my dinner
I was in the process of moving from stage 1 to stage 2 of making scouse in the InstantPot™ when the phone went, with the Caller ID showing "Landlord". This is very unusual, as that number is the sister of the chap I usually deal with, who tends to restrict herself to the business side of things; it must be years since I last spoke to her.
Now, a rumour has been going around that the council is going to install a new lock on the main back gate to where the cars and the bins live, the existing one having been broken for ages, and everybody's been in a flap because nobody knows how the business of replacing the existing keys will be handled. Now "Landlord" had received word from a bloke who leases various bits of storage space out the back, such as our old stable and a compound that used to be the garden of one of the houses in the side street, that the gate was locked and his key wouldn't open it, and she wanted to know if I'd heard anything about it.
I told her it had been fine at teatime when I went for my walk, and I thought it a bit unlikely that the council would send somebody to do the job in the evening, but I offered to go down and have a look. Doing so, I met storage guy in the hall downstairs, apparently on the phone to the other landlord chap I usually deal with. So out we both went.
Even in the dark, it looked to me like the lock hadn't been changed; I figured somebody had managed to lock it, which generally hasn't been possible for ages, but which has occasionally been achieved. Further experiment showed that neither storage guy's key nor mine could get it open, but that was because it was jammed, not because it was a new lock. This is why nobody even tries to lock it any more - if you manage it, you usually can't unlock it again.
Anyway, I eventually remembered a trick I worked out a few years ago when it had been playing up. I put my key in, turned it as far as it would go the wrong way, then turned it back - and the lock opened, smooth as anything
So I was the hero of the hour, we're still waiting for the panic that will ensue when the council really do change the lock, and I was able to get back to making my dinner
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