Lockout ... lessons learned

As usual, after sending the kids to school, so-so breakfast  .... Mama will be outside the house, attending our minuscule backyard, 'kebun biasa-biasa', and doing laundry with our 10 yrs old washing machine that has become semi-auto due to frequent 'moving houses'... huhu

An almost daiy routine that Mama has become comfortable with  ... never thinking of 'other' possibilities that might occur  ... until one day!

That 'eye-opener' day, Mama was outside as usual. The only exit @kitchen door, closed as usual ... to prevent Mr. S (Stray) from going into the house and starts marking his territories (urine spraying  i.e. .. urghhh!) ... for Mama has seen him 'markings' his territories outside and around our house  (huhu  ... the doors, tyres, pots, boxes  etc)  ... p.s. panjang pulak cerita pasal Mr. S (hehe  ...) 

OK! OK! Back to the real story  ... the kitchen door was always ok until that fateful day  ... upon closing it, Mama heard a 'not so usual' click sound. But 'make-dunno' and happily doing what Mama does everyday  ... after hanging out the laundry, Mama cannot open the door!! Its locked from the inside  ... and Mama is on the outside  ... haha!! Haha me  ... the truth is, Mama panicked! There' s no way to enter the house because all doors are locked and windows, tho' opened, blocked with solid grills!!

Tried to be 'Mc Gyver'  ... using this and that to pry the door open. It won't budge a bit. To call for help  ... ayoyo, handphone inside the house, and all neighbours both working couples ... at the most, after 2 pm those who are teachers will be back. Now its only 9 am!!! The only option is, to walk almost 1 km outside for help (in Mama's drab morning caftan that mismatch my 'tudung'??  ... hoho, no way  ... got pride maa!! ... but keeping it as an option if nothing else works  ... -_-')

Alhamdulillah! Suddenly saw our neighbour feeding his hens  (he said he came back to fetch something he forgot, and decided to feed the hens whilst at it ... pheww!) . You bet, Mama almost jumped with joy and wasted no time asking (almost begging) for his help! And the rest, they say is ... history! Pheww! Lesson learned in case of 'LOCKOUT' again  ....

- put spare keys in strategic, hidden yet easy to retrieve place ... 

- make sure other family members has their own spare keys ...

(before this only Mama has all the keys ... in the house! Huhu)

- keep handphones near the window, within easy reach!

- know your neighbours and keep their numbers!

p.s. wow! its really easy to pry the door open from the outside ... just using object like unused credit card  ... zip zap zip zap ... the door is unlocked!! He said he used to do this during his 'bujang' days, staying with 'bujang' friends at their rented house  ... when they often forgot their keys! So ... make sure you have extra locks inside the house  ... just for safety!!