HFCS: effika’s blog

I’ve locked my keys in my car enough times that I keep my house keys and car key separate. I keep a spare car key in the apartment, which I should be able to get to since my house and car keys are separate. This system worked very well when I was in college and just shoved my keys and wallet in my pockets, my bookbag obviating the need for a purse.

Now I keep my keys (house and car) and cell phone stuck on a carabiner hooked to my purse. I taught food handler class today, and took my carabiner off my purse and inside with me. When I came back out to my car I neglected to attach the loop back to my purse. When I got home, I clicked my car key onto the carabiner, grabbed my purse and knitting, and cringed as I watched the locked car door slam shut with my carabiner (+keys +cell phone) on the passenger seat.

I walked slowly upstairs. It was drizzling and chilly, but not bad. I could sit here on the balcony, warm and dry, and knit until Jay came home. Except that I was hungry. I decided to be proactive about my fate. I had my wallet, plus a grocery store, a drug store, and several fast food places less than a half mile from our place, and it would be trivial to get some grub. I walked downstairs, and found the drizzle was trying hard to turn into rain. I dug in my purse for my umbrella, then remembered I that I attached it as well to the carabiner before food school today (just in case it rained!). Indeed, it was there on the seat with my other needed items.

Waiting around until ~9pm when Jay comes home and can let me in our place seemed like a really bad idea about then. Jay was at work at the library on campus, and I decided to pay him a visit for his house key.

I ran to the bus stop near our house— across the street and down a block— to the covered bench that sits in the middle of an appartment complex. Now that the semester has ended, the bus only comes once an hour. I had 20 minutes until the bus. The rain blew into the bus stop shelter, and by the time the bus pulled up I was shivering. The inside of the bus was warm and dry, and it was only sprinkling when I got to campus.

Jay fixed me up with an umbrella, his house key, and a couple of dollars for the vending machine before he had to get back to work. Dinner was a packet of Wheat Thins (fiber! salt!) and a bag of generic fruit smilies (200% RDA for vitamin C!) before heading back on the bus. I arrived inside around 7pm, having spent 2 hours in transport or waiting for it, all because I was on autopilot when I got home.