The day we received the keys and moved into our previous apartment happened to coincide with the same weekend
@noooonie was away visiting family (I didn’t mind, as it meant I had free reign to find a place for everything). I had work that evening, but had arranged for a friend to join me afterwards to help move a few items and cart the empty boxes to the rubbish. When I arrived home I decided to get a head start by moving the empty boxes out to the front courtyard. On one of these journeys I stepped out for a moment too long: the front door closed behind me, locked. With both sets of keys sitting on the kitchen bench, along with my phone. It would have been nearing midnight at this point and after some thought, I decided the best course of action was to head downstairs and use the doorbell/intercom system to ring
@knead.to.bake (Greg), now a neighbour. He happened to have family staying with him that night, so after waking the whole household, he joined me downstairs, giving me access to a phone and the internet. Originally we planned for him to drop me at another friend’s place where I could crash for the evening and sort matters the next day, but on the way I managed to find an available locksmith. Arriving back at the apartment block we found my original friend standing outside and after some explanation we all then sat in the car, out of the cold, and waited. The locksmith finally arrived and after learning about the requirement for a swipe key to access our floor, inquired about the fire stairwell. Thinking one step ahead we took him upstairs to Greg’s level and from there walked up the fire well to the door of our level. Expecting him to get out a few slimline tools and start picking the lock, he instead put down a flat piece of cardboard, about half metre in length, and from it pulled out a curved piece of metal with string attached to one end. He slid this under the door and via some real life magic-trickery maneuvered the string over the door handle on the other side, opening the door with a simple pull. Within minutes, and after a small fortune, we were inside my apartment, with a well deserved beverage and the boxes left for another day.
