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I have, several times, left my keys dangling from the barrel of my Triumph Bonnie all day while it’s been in a public carpark. Get some rest, mate.
When I first moved into my current house, I at some point realized I’d left my then-car unlocked in the driveway for over a week. There was nothing of value in it and it wasn’t fancy, but still kinda surprised me.
Also my kid snapped a brand new pair of glasses clean in half when she was 18 mos.
For next time, Henkel loctite has a single part adhesive I got at home Depot made for plastic.
Used it on glasses I dropped a hood on.
Snapped between lenses.
I had no faith it would work, but they are still in one piece as a spare.
Thanks! Good to know.
For future reference, the folks who answer the phone when you call 911 are called Call Takers or simply Dispatchers.
Personally, I’d say their job is more like an air traffic controller than a telephone operator.
Thinky about it, touring your local dispatch center might make for an interesting behind the scenes article.
Yes, but for emergencies, and 911 should be reserved for those, not car theft. The non-emergency number is for stuff like that.
True, but also orthogonal to my point.
Now, if baby Delmar (NHRN) was in the car, yup, call 911.
Which reminds me that knowing (or at least having them written down somewhere handy like your phone) all your license plate numbers comes in handy.
I do a lot of walking in local parks. I always go on Google maps and save my parking. Then I can go onto any trails I want and find my way back.
Whenever we’re hiking in a new place, I always use an app to record our track. It really helps you understand where you are and be able to backtrack or reconnect with the trail if you get lost or mixed up.
David are we going to get an article on your trip home? Would love to hear about the drive.
Listen to Hardibro before you hurt yourself physically through distractedness.
Ask me how I learned that lesson.
Sometimes people surprise you. I have a small business and own several vending machines. I refilled one of them about a week ago and realized about a week later that I had left the key in the door to the vending machine. I drove back to it expecting to find everything gone, but the key was still there in the lock, and there was only one Snickers bar missing. I have to admit it restored a *little* bit of my faith in humanity.
Glad everything turned out OK.
You and keys, man… at least you didn’t leave them in the middle of a parking lot at the airport.
You’ll get used to it…in about 4 years.
Till then take lots of pictures.
Don’t sweat it, Dad. You know how many times I’ve returned from the playground to find the sliding doors to our van still open? More times than I’d like to admit.
Take it from someone who has been through this with 3 kids, take your time. Getting to your in laws 3 minutes faster doesn’t change anything. Slow is fast and fast is smooth.
BTW, didn’t you notice the extra block you walked to get to your house?
Wyatt Earp said,
“Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
Learn to take your time, in a hurry. “
I’m sorry I just can’t read what Torch wrote and not ask for an update on him, did he get help? How’s he feeling?
He got his flywheel replaced and starts up every time.
Something else to which you may as well become accustomed 😀
It’s not a bad thing, btw. It gives you both some good stories.
This is very similar to something that happened to a friend of mine.
He has some drinks and went to his nearby grocery store to get more booze. Upon exiting the store, he couldn’t find his car so he called the cops to report it stolen. After he called the police, he remembered “oh yeah, I walked here”
Glad it all ended well, and can confirm having kids will result in plenty of absent-minded moments
Well, at least you don’t have a 5 gallon purse with 4 pockets like my wife to ‘lose’ your keys in…
My wife must have the same one
Mine too!
and that’s where keyless ignition and proximity entry is a god send
Upside: no need to find the keys in the junk drawer with handles
Downside: I get to wear a purse (maybe) 🙂
It is except when there’s a bunch of extra personal bags/purses for every color combination. Then it becomes a game of which purse/bag where and when.
Instead of a man-purse, pick up a small carabiner. You can’t walk past a cash register or key kiosk without a dozen of them clamoring to be taken home. Then, when you leave the house for the day, you clip the key fob of your vehicle to a belt loop. Just remember to put it back on the key rack at the end of the day!
Actually, the most trouble I’ve had with this mostly trouble-free scheme is I forget to push the little button on the door handle and wind up leaving my car unlocked while I go into the store. I’m still working out a simple way to address THAT problem. Suggestions welcome.
i am not putting any purse on a carabiner.
i have her key on my key ring it looks like a janitor’s). when we are going with her car I never take my keys, and the inevitable happens: can you put my high heels in my car, and get my flats, or the I am cold can you grab my coat/blazer/gloves/whatever 5 minutes after we get whenever we are going
A. Glad you found your truck
B. A stolen truck is not a situation for 911. That is for emergencies where lives are in danger. If you truck was actually stolen all the police would do is write you a nice report for your insurance company.
Lives ARE in danger!
“ear-bleedingly loud wind noise from an improperly-fitting door and horrible mud-terrain tires”
I was going to mention this as well. Unless it’s a California thing? You always call the police non-emergency number, never 911 unless you have an actual emergency.
They don’t take police reports in many cities.
That’s how they keep crime down.
Glad you didn’t lose the Comanche. It looks great in pix, especially those steelies. 🙂
I’ve misplaced my cars in new-to-me parking garages mostly: the Amazon Fresh store in N. Hollywood is a particularly confusing one, and the Target store in W. Hollywood has a garage that I’m pretty sure has put a tear in the spacetime continuum. I swear I’ve returned to a floor or part of that garage that I’ve already searched, only to find my car there on the second or third pass.
These days, I mostly street park since my daily driver is 36 years old and very far from pristine. Which is not to say that I don’t worry that someone will make mischief… I do… just within a bearable range of worry, that’s all. Yesterday, it was parked for almost half a day in a somewhat seedy area of eastern Hollywood, on a block frequented by homeless folks and some assorted miscreants too… I worried, but thankfully, all was fine and the car was there when I got back (it’s a manual, so maybe that would discourage younger thieves?) and all of the untinted windows were still intact.
I used to travel about three weeks a month and once spent more than 30 minutes wheeling my luggage around the airport parking lot at SeaTac, holding my key fob and hitting the lock button to try to trigger a chirp from the alarm of the car I couldn’t accurately remember where I had parked it. After that event, I started taking pictures of the parking spot number and which floor it was on.
Almost always now, I park at an offsite lot (it’s a lot cheaper) and the shuttle driver gives me a little card with the parking space info. And I tuck the card away behind my license in my wallet. When I get back, the driver can find where I parked. I now also have an AirTag tucked away in a discreet location.
I also once put the key fob in a different part of my backpack than usual and that caused a moment of upset. This was on a car that didn’t have a proximity-based system.
My son stayed with us one summer and I let him use the much newer Honda with the second fob while I was gone for the week. I got back and he picked me up at the airport and I put my backpack and suitcase in the trunk. The trunk lid would not stay shut. And then I remembered my fob was in the backpack and thought it was pretty clever of the engineers to do their best to keep one from locking a key in there.
I let a housemate use my car after dropping me off at the airport and had lost the key fob while I was gone. I had to take a pretty expensive ride share to get home. And I can’t wait to see how much the replacement and programming is going to cost.
I hear there are generic replacements now.
I have taken to parking in the same location when I park in garages. For the one at work I park on the outside western side of the garage, even if I have to go up a few levels to find a spot – that way I only need to remember which floor I am on.
The keys were hanging from the door for a whole day? Safe neighborhood confirmed.
New kid does this to everyone.
Can confirm. I actually ran out of gas once on the way to childcare. Such limited time when kids are young
I had a worse experience. For a year when I first moved into my apartment I had to street park. One Saturday I park my car on a little tiny street that connects between 2 “real” streets right next to a hospital a block away. I come back the Sunday 8 days later to drive my car again and not only is my car missing, but the entire street I parked on is missing. Turns out Sunday they put up signs and on Tuesday the car was towed. Cost me $350 to get the car out of the impound lot, but I was amazed there was no damage done to it.
BWAHAHAHA!!!!
I haven’t left mine for a day in the door of a car, but I HAVE left them overnight in the deadbolt to our house.
Twice.
So, I sympathize.
My wife does this routinely.
If I work late it’s not strange for me to find the door locked with the keys dangling from the door.
This is one time I wish I could see what the neighbors on NextDoor were posting about this…..
When we were new parents I found my wife’s house keys in the front door a few times upon arriving home or leaving for work in the morning. Never my own, although I did once find them in the little shelves in the front hall closet where kept dog poop bags and stuff like that.
Never the car keys, although with remote locking on virtually everything made in the past 20 years that is getting harder to do.
Worst place I ever lost my keys was in the back of the fridge, right before loading 2 12 packs of beer in there. Took me a good 5 days to find them again.
I’m still trying to live down that time the missing TV remote was found in the refrigerator. Er, times… I’m doing much better now.
I’ve found ours in the fridge and microwave. Now we mostly use the microwave to store bread (small kitchen) so it makes a little more sense.
I’m missing a TV remote. Now you all have given me new places to check. Thanks. My kid is 31 now, so I don’t have an excuse.
I’m no medicalologist, but the solution here appears to be “drink faster”
I’ve done the keys in the fridge thing once.
My brother in law was visiting from overseas and he couldn’t find his keys. He had to leave for home without his keys. Eventually, after exhausting all reasonable options, we remembered he had a pompom type thing for a keychain, and I started blaming the cat in jest. That turned out to be true. She had stolen his keys and stashed them under the bed.
I have two 2011 BMWs, one with “comfort access” where you just leave your keys in your pocket and push start, and one where you have to stick the key in the slot in the dash before you can start it. I am constantly leaving the key in the slot and walking away from the car, absent-mindedly touching the handle to lock the car (which doesn’t on that car, of course). And of course, sticking the key in the slot in the one that I don’t have to.
Also, when both cars were at the same house, I was constantly trying to start them with each other’s keys. Had to get wildly different key fobs, because the keys themselves are of course identical.
The new BMWs go one better and let you use your phone’s nfc feature as a key. Which is great until you forget the phone because it slid onto the floor while you were driving. The good news is the car will not lock you out, the bad news is now you have a unlocked car with your key and phone inside. I really like the comfort access, but sorta miss the old BMW keys.
I seriously do not get why I would want to use my phone as my car key. I guess that makes me an old.
I too really like comfort access though. I also like that with the old-school key fobs, the CA keys have a normal replaceable battery, rather than the recharging nonsense that the non-CA keys have. WTF were ze Germans smoking that day in Munich?
Face palm time! All the tools and parts still there too?
BTW, babies seem to love to grab glasses, long hair and earrings and usually try to put them in their mouth.