Keys & Things

Did you know that all Ford keys will lock any Ford car? No, nor did I and what a muddle I caused by this lack of knowledge!

Some of you will be aware that my Stan has a car habit, we have about 20 cars and about 5 of them are Fords.

Since the early summer when my elder daughter came home from Uni we have been very scrapped for space in the house and so have started to store things in the cars!

BB's room was getting so full of baby equipment, she decided to put her Moses Basket and her Quinney Buggy in a Ford Focus sitting on the drive. So far so good.

A couple of days go by and BB shouts down to me, "Mum, can you lock the Focus, coz my stuffs all in there and I don't want anyone to steal it" "Ok" says I.

I pick up the Ford key most noticeable on the side and go out to the Focus. I lock it, no problems.

2 weeks pass, BB suddenly says "Mum, I need to measure the Moses Basket to order a new mattress", "OK" says I again, " the key is here, come down and do what you need to do". I went out.

On my return, BB moans- " Mum, the key won't work, is there another one you used?" "No" I say " It's the key I locked it with , so should be the one......

Fast forward a few hours BB has rung Stan ( My Hubby, her dad)and told him about the Focus not opening...........duck now as we receive a barrage of bad language and huffing and puffing.....................The fact is we've locked the Focus with the wrong key, the actual key to to Focus is inside the Focus under the seat! Why? you may well ask, but Stan puts keys under seats as it saves him coming in and out to get keys when he is moving cars around. This is when he informs us that Ford nmake all their keys able to lock ANY Ford car but ONLY the correct key will unlock it. How stupid is that??Apparently it helps with the fleights of cars.

Now normally locking a key in a car would not be a problem, Stan is able to use wires and things through windows to pull up the lock.......BUT not in this case. The lock is hidden, there is nothing to pull up. So we are stuck. There seems to be only 2 choices- Break a window or get a new lock.

Stan makes us stew for over 2 weeks before he decides to have another go at getting the door open. He found out the key man would charge him £70 to break lock and fit new one and window would cost about the same. As it was my fault, I agreed to pay for key man to come.

Then one Sunday afternoon, Stan and a mate start playing with the lock again, lots of wires and wrenching goes on and eventually the door comes open, bit damaged but nothing untoward.

So the Moses basket is free and the matress is ordered and now sitting in the bedroom in readiness for the baby.

But would you believe it? Stan managed to lock himself out of his van up the yard the other day. He lost his key out of his pocket ( he has a hole in his jeans pocket) So had to get the key man to open the van up as impossible to get a key cut.........this cost him £30.

What is it with us and cars and Keys!!!