{"id":9462,"date":"2017-01-07T23:43:08","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T05:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/?p=9462"},"modified":"2017-01-11T22:00:47","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T04:00:47","slug":"locked-out-our-own-little-emergency-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2017\/locked-out-our-own-little-emergency-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Locked Out: Our own little emergency adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This post is the fifteenth in our &#8220;England 2015&#8221;:\/news\/category\/travel\/england-2015\/ series.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If Rochelle Canteen and Kensington Gardens weren&#8217;t enough fun for one day, we were able to count on one more invigorating experience before we got to bed that night: returning to the flat and realizing that we were locked out.<!--more--><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2017\/locked-out-our-own-little-emergency-adventure\/img_4650\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9469\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_4650.jpg\" alt=\"We are locked out!\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_4650.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_4650-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_4650-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nHow could this happen? In our efforts to be efficient and travel light, we had downsized the number of keys on the key ring we&#8217;d been given, not realizing that someone would be coming in to clean the apartment while we were gone, and that this someone is used to locking <em>all<\/em> the locks. Jon and I immediately put our electronic devices to work, calling and texting anyone on either side of the Atlantic Ocean who might be able to help us contact our host and find a way into the flat.<\/p>\n<p>A flurry of thoughts took their place at the forefront of my mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Do not panic, Mama. Especially in front of the children!<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>We are going to be okay. We have our wallets, no one is sick, and we have a virtual stack of e-books as long as your right arm. Worst-case-scenario: we book a room at a hotel.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>This is an opportunity to make a memory. Get busy cultivating a spirit of fun!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And so we had a picnic dessert in the courtyard, feasting on some obscenely large chocolate and strawberry meringues that we had picked up at a patisserie on the way home. I put on my most compassion-inducing flustered-mother expression (not difficult, under the circumstances) as we ventured over to a local pub (&#8220;The Cask&#8221;:http:\/\/www.caskpubandkitchen.com\/#about) to use the loo, girls trotting quietly by my side.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2017\/locked-out-our-own-little-emergency-adventure\/img_3436\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9470\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3436.jpg\" alt=\"Waiting in the hallway: a panorama\" width=\"1000\" height=\"313\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3436.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3436-128x40.jpg 128w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3436-768x240.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWe returned to the flat, sat on the carpet in the hallway, and I read aloud for hours from Enid Blyton\u2019s <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/935170.The_Enchanted_Wood_The_Magic_Faraway_Tree_The_Folk_of_The_Faraway_Tree_The_Wishing_Chair_Again_and_Up_The_Faraway_Tree\">The Wishing Tree<\/a><\/i>, a story that was just entertaining enough to while away the hours, but not quite engaging enough for me to completely prevent the swell of panicked anxiety (&#8220;Do not panic, Mama!&#8221;) every time I looked at the clock and watched the minutes ticking by.<\/p>\n<p>Our saviors were named Tom and Kate, and I thank God for them. These kind friends of Teresa&#8217;s drove nearly an hour across London to let us into the flat. (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kate.greer3) I hugged them out of sheer joy, even though that is Not English, then served them tea and ginger biscuits. (It was from Kate that I learned I\u2019d been steeping my English teabags for way too long, which explained why my tea was bitter!) They even stayed to chat for a few minutes, creating the illusion of a spontaneous late-night social event rather than an error-induced rescue mission.<\/p>\n<p>That night, as we lay in our beds that night, I reflected with gratitude on the generosity of these friends who had mercy on our little American family \u2014 and on the fact that, truly, I did not panic. Whew!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2017\/locked-out-our-own-little-emergency-adventure\/img_3437\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9471\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3437.jpg\" alt=\"Reading in the hallway.\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3437.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3437-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3437-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Read the next post in our &#8220;England 2015&#8221;:\/news\/category\/travel\/england-2015\/ series: <a href=\/news\/2017\/on-not-running\/>On Not Running: A process of acceptance<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post is the fifteenth in our &#8220;England 2015&#8221;:\/news\/category\/travel\/england-2015\/ series. If Rochelle Canteen and Kensington Gardens weren&#8217;t enough fun for one day, we were able to count on one more invigorating experience before we got to bed that night: returning to the flat and realizing that we were locked out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-england-2015","category-kids","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9462"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9487,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462\/revisions\/9487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}