Monday, July 4, 2011

The Key

What is this a picture of?
I thought I would write a bit about one of the first things I noticed when I walked into my new flat (apartment) in Edinburgh that day!

First I made fun of the ancient looking skeleton keys that were handed to me. Granted, it is a 170 year old building, however key technology has changed quite a bit though apparently not in the UK! I found this pretty amusing, and a bit of a security issue actually. How safe would you feel if you had to lock your door at night with what girls adorn necklaces with in North America?

Second, this is the inside of my door. The INSIDE! I can't even count how many times I have locked myself IN my apartment! Dead bolts didn't make the cut in the UK it seems, so instead, you literally lock the door behind you when you come in. Which is all fine and dandy until the pizza man comes and you can't find the keys! 'Just a sec'-fumble, fumble. Heaven help us if there is ever a fire.

Our lock does happen to be a CHUBB brand lock however, the same I had back home. Hmmm. I guess I was under the assumption that there would be some kind of standardization amongst international locksmiths. Nope, there is not! Apparently after the war, America changed to the 'pin tumbler' lock we know and love, while the Brits stuck with the old faithful skeleton key system. So now I know.

Any how, who would have thought such simple things could be so different not so far from home! I can't exactly claim to be in a foreign country here! But, I thought you might like to know, perhaps it will prepare you the many charming idiosyncrasies that will confront you if you move to this country. Being aware of these differences has been key in helping me be open and tolerant to the less subtle diversities.

1 comment:

  1. umm....my lock isn't like that & i live in the same city. maybe you just live in a really old building?? ps. you can leave the keys in the lock so that when the pizza man comes you won't have to search for them. it also makes it more difficult for someone to break in cos they won't be able to get another key into the lock from the outside whilst yours is on the inside!

    ReplyDelete

Thoughts