A Nightmare On My Street

OK, I admit it - I'm losing it.

Yesterday was one of my hospital tutor days, and I was setting out just after 9.30 to visit my first student. I was taking my holiday photos as I had promised to show them to his mum just before he was well enough to go back to school for a while. So there I was overladen with bags. I slammed shut the front door, then reached into my handbag for the keys to lock up. EEEEEK! No Handbag! I hadn't picked it up!

The neighbour who has my keys was visiting her daughter and wouldn't be back till that evening. The daughter's phone number was - erm - in the house. My best friend has keys. She lives 30 miles away and isn't very well at present. I had no phone, no car keys, no money.

Then I remembered I gave a set to a neighbour a few doors up NINE YEARS AGO when I had to go to the hospital and didn't know if they'd keep me in. I put them through the door with instructions for looking after the animals. I came home the same day, and the keys have never been needed since.

I knocked on the door. No-one came. I knocked harder. Same result. I tried the bell. Nada. I called through the letterbox. Silence. I rapped on the glass, louder and louder. Eventually the son came to the door. I told him the problem. He called his mother - who came down the stairs in a bath towel, hot from the bath. She searched everywhere, and the best she could come up with was a keyring with four keys on (I have only two) but the mortice looked a bit like mine, so I took them to try them out. Bingo! I retrieved my handbag, thanked my neighbour profusely, and went on my way.

I would have been on time, too, except for the traffic. In fact, I only travelled 8 miles in total yesterday, but the sum of the time spent in the car was over an hour. I'm going to suggest they barricade off Lewisham and put a sign up saying "Closed for roadworks" because there doesn't seem to be a single main road in the borough that doesn't have some.