Part 4: A Day In History: Saturday, December 9, 2006
Chapter 3: The Key Is To Stay Positive
As we pull into the driveway at home, George asks if I'll be fine and asks if there is anything he can do. I reply to him that things should be cool, and I'll be able to work it out, thanks anyway. He motors off and I stroll down the driveway to my car that sounds like it's been running for quite a while.
As I gave upon Maddy's hardened stare, I realise I'm in big trouble. It turns out Maddy had been sitting in my car with the air conditioning going, waiting for me to get home for over an hour. When she first got home, she walked upstairs and went to unlock the door when she made the grim realisation that there were no house keys on my keyring.
Don't you hate that pit-of-your-stomach feeling you get when you know you've really messed up big time?
I had it in spades.
Anyway, me being me, I told Maddy to be cool, and that there was no point in getting upset as it really doesn't help anything. She asked me what I was going to do. I replied with a wry grin and trotted off to the back fence; I was going to attempt to scale the wall and climb in the back window that I leave open for the cat.
Wearing my suit I hoisted myself onto the fence and shuffled around to the wall of my building. At which point I looked down and realised I was standing 15 feet above the concrete pavers the neighbour has in his backyard. Slipping several times due to my dress shoes having no grip, I decided I didn't want to die in my neighbours backyard. It was just too damn hot for that.
I got myself down and strolled back to the car in a dejected kind of way with my shoulders slumping as much from the heat as the sense of defeat I felt from not being able to do what seemed so easy in my head.
"Why don't you just call a locksmith?" Maddy asked with a look of disappointment that had replaced what was once anger on her face. Being a stubborn git, I shook my head; I had one more trick up my dirty white sleeve.
I walked to the front of our apartment block and looked up at the sheer glass surface. Each pane of glass in the facade is about a metre high and is divided by a 'shelf' of aluminium that is about 50mm thick and sticks about 40mm. I decided that I would give Spider-man a run for his money and proceeded to scale the wall.
As I was climbing I was trying desperately to remember which window always opened and which one needed to be unlocked. I was fairly convinced that it was the one closest to the wall that was always locked, but I would have hated myself for not trying. Sure enough, after getting to the top with sweaty fingers holding on for dear life suspended 20 feet in the air, it turns out I was right - the window was locked.
This was the fun part. It is always easier to climb up something than it is to climb down. Sure I could have jumped, but my knees and I have a fairly shaky truce at the best of times, and I was not in the mood to be waging war on my body. I had to slide to the corner of the window and shimmy myself down, all the while trying not to burn my hands off.
As we pull into the driveway at home, George asks if I'll be fine and asks if there is anything he can do. I reply to him that things should be cool, and I'll be able to work it out, thanks anyway. He motors off and I stroll down the driveway to my car that sounds like it's been running for quite a while.
As I gave upon Maddy's hardened stare, I realise I'm in big trouble. It turns out Maddy had been sitting in my car with the air conditioning going, waiting for me to get home for over an hour. When she first got home, she walked upstairs and went to unlock the door when she made the grim realisation that there were no house keys on my keyring.
Don't you hate that pit-of-your-stomach feeling you get when you know you've really messed up big time?
I had it in spades.
Anyway, me being me, I told Maddy to be cool, and that there was no point in getting upset as it really doesn't help anything. She asked me what I was going to do. I replied with a wry grin and trotted off to the back fence; I was going to attempt to scale the wall and climb in the back window that I leave open for the cat.
Wearing my suit I hoisted myself onto the fence and shuffled around to the wall of my building. At which point I looked down and realised I was standing 15 feet above the concrete pavers the neighbour has in his backyard. Slipping several times due to my dress shoes having no grip, I decided I didn't want to die in my neighbours backyard. It was just too damn hot for that.
I got myself down and strolled back to the car in a dejected kind of way with my shoulders slumping as much from the heat as the sense of defeat I felt from not being able to do what seemed so easy in my head.
"Why don't you just call a locksmith?" Maddy asked with a look of disappointment that had replaced what was once anger on her face. Being a stubborn git, I shook my head; I had one more trick up my dirty white sleeve.
I walked to the front of our apartment block and looked up at the sheer glass surface. Each pane of glass in the facade is about a metre high and is divided by a 'shelf' of aluminium that is about 50mm thick and sticks about 40mm. I decided that I would give Spider-man a run for his money and proceeded to scale the wall.
As I was climbing I was trying desperately to remember which window always opened and which one needed to be unlocked. I was fairly convinced that it was the one closest to the wall that was always locked, but I would have hated myself for not trying. Sure enough, after getting to the top with sweaty fingers holding on for dear life suspended 20 feet in the air, it turns out I was right - the window was locked.
This was the fun part. It is always easier to climb up something than it is to climb down. Sure I could have jumped, but my knees and I have a fairly shaky truce at the best of times, and I was not in the mood to be waging war on my body. I had to slide to the corner of the window and shimmy myself down, all the while trying not to burn my hands off.
Labels: chief, climb, darkris, hot, keys, locked, locksmith, maddy, nick, out, reception, spider-man, wedding
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