Sunday, February 7, 2016

Don’t Get Locked Out of Your House in Mexico #Travel

Stock-Door LockRemember that time that I locked myself inside my house? Yes, well, today has nothing on that day. Nothing.

The day started out as usual. It was a Friday so we took the van out and did a bunch of errands. On our return, we were running a bit late and within a few minutes of getting home, the garbage truck arrived. Normally, all the garbage is piled at the front door so that I just have to pick them up and head to the corner by myself*. The Kids stand on the front porch and wave at the truck as it goes by. However, today we weren’t ready so everyone had to get involved. The Kids and I made it to the corner in time and Ed waited on our front stoop with the door open.

Since we’d just gotten home, I hadn’t had time to put Dog #1 (herein referred to as “Maya” or “My Dog”) downstairs so since the door was open, she sneaked behind him and ran up the street towards us, and missed being hit by the garbage truck that was pulling up by only a few feet. I quickly grabbed her and called to Ed to come help me as he didn’t know that she had escaped. Fortunately, our neighbour had just arrived and dumped my garbage and ensured that The Kids were safely on the sidewalk.


(This video was taken prior to yesterday)

Remembering his previous mistake, Ed didn’t want Dog #2 (herein referred to as “Amiga” or “Mom to Maya” or “Soon to be Someone Else’s Dog”) to get out so he shut the door. Once we all got back to the front door safely, Ed looked to me to open the door and I looked to him. In our haste to make the garbage run, we’d both left the house without our keys. Um.

Just to set the stage, it’s 6pm and we’re outside without jackets, have a dog with no leash and dinner is cooking in the kitchen.

After trying to open the door with a credit card, we decided to go to our friend’s house two blocks away and get the keys. Except he wasn’t home and wouldn’t be for a few hours and he couldn’t tell us where the keys were because he doesn’t really know. He suggested we go to Plan B. Nice.

In case you didn’t know, our house is a duplex and we were locked out of the third or top level.

So, as we were staring at our front door, our neighbour came out her door as she was leaving for the night. At that point, we decided that it would be better to be in the downstairs (bottom two levels) than out on the street. We asked if she would let us enter her house and into her backyard where I would scale a rickety metal spiral staircase to her roof. I would then access my roof and then jump down into my property, open the garage door and voila. And so I did just that.

When I opened the front door, we had a good laugh and when I turned around, Maya was about to get out again so I closed the door.

I CLOSED THE DOOR!

I can’t make this stuff up.

So, back I headed into my neighbours house and up onto her roof and crawled along “our roof” (otherwise known as a tin overhang with a 2×1” board holding it up, I won’t go into any more details because it’s not for the faint of heart) and for a second time in as many minutes, I opened up the garage door. Only this time, I didn’t go out. Instead I let every one in.

I imagine by now that you’re breathing a sigh of relief because after 30 minutes, we’re finally inside our house. Except we’re not. Really.

Stock-Window Grate

You see, all the windows in our third floor are twenty feet up and locked from the inside and if that wasn’t enough, have metal bars on them that not even a child could get through. Assuming we had a ladder of course. I know.

Fortunately, Ed’s workshop is in the downstairs so armed with some serious tools (I told him that the battering ram was a bit much) he headed back outside and within a few minutes, had us back inside and upstairs where a very cooked dinner awaited us.

As I was putting The Kids to bed, I asked them, like I do every night, “What was your favourite part of the day” and you guessed it, this exciting adventure was it.

Have You Ever Been Locked Out of Your House?

* We have to put our own garbage in the truck.

Note 1: Tomorrow morning, I will be waiting outside the door of our key maker to get a spare key to the front door made and we will be giving it to our neighbour. Just in case.

Note 2: If you’re confused about all the dog chat it’s not your fault. We are in fact the new owners of two dogs and neither of them are part of the original Zoo. Post coming shortly.

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27 thoughts on “Don’t Get Locked Out of Your House in Mexico #Travel”

  3. Elizabeth Matthiesen

    Good heavens, what an adventure! However you did have me in stitches, a great read Sarah and thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply ↓
  5. Kayla @ TheEclecticElement

    Oh goodness gracious, that IS quite the adventure! Not the very best adventure I would surmise, but an exciting out-of-the ordinary adventure none the less 😉

    At least after a lot of hullabaloo you were able to finally get in and nothing TOO bad happened.

    I’ve been locked out of the house before but thankfully we have a garage door key pad that I know the code to. Of course I have to scale the obstacle course that is our garage but it’s not too terrible. LOL
    Kayla @ TheEclecticElement recently posted…Get Smooth Legs at a Great Price + Find 5 Nifty & Thrifty Shaving Tips & Tricks #ShaveSmarterMy Profile

    Reply ↓
  6. Aneta

    I am going to keep saying this, this is the most entertaining story ever. I can’t help but think of you scaling the roofs in your city 🙂 Get a spare made and be careful xo

    Reply ↓
  8. Peady @ Tempered With Kindness

    I love your adventures! Yes. I am chalking it up to adventure! 😀 Why not!

    You sure do have a lot of *adventures* when you are in Mexico.

    I laughed out loud when I read this. Too funny! May I suggest pinning a key to your bra or some other thing you always have with you? 😉

    I *have* been locked out of my house and because we seem to share this awesome and perpetual need for adventure, let me tell you, it was a doozie! It was a long time ago. You have inpired me to maybe write about it. 😛
    Peady @ Tempered With Kindness recently posted…Five Fun Facts For Friday February FifthMy Profile

    Reply ↓
  9. Kevin Roy

    Too funny…Well for us I guess.

    Hope the family is well and Mme Gabrielle and I hope to see you all with the arrival of spring.

    Reply ↓
  10. Rachel G

    Locked out twice??? Woah. Funny story, thanks so much for sharing this misadventure with us! We got locked out of our house in Malaysia years ago, and it took scaling walls and climbing a ladder and jumping onto a balcony in order to get back in. We locked ourselves out once in Michigan, but thought we better check and see if, by any chance, the sliding door on the upstairs balcony was unlocked…it was, and we never used that door the whole winter, which meant that we’d been living in an unlocked house for months. ha!

    Reply ↓
  12. Debbie S.

    Sounds very adventurous! Glad your supper was still okay! Great post! Yes us too have locked ourselves out, but we have a tree and if lucky enough a window open.

    Reply ↓
  13. Paul Gannon

    No I can’t remember being locked out of our house and I certainly couldn’t see myself channeling an internal Jason Bourne like you did in Mexico!

    Reply ↓

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