Writing 101: Third time’s the charm

Had I been keeping up instead of catching up I would have posted this on Monday.  But here it is Wednesday and the Challenge is: – On day four, you wrote about losing something. On day thirteen, you then wrote about finding something.
So, today’s twist:  If you’d like to continue our serial challenge,
also reflect on the theme of“lost and found” more generally in this post.

I am a serial loser of such things as gloves, umbrellas and car keys.  Of course, I can usually find the car keys again after hunting around the house, looking in all the usual and often unusual places.  But one time the lost car keys created an almost unsolvable problem.
At that time I was driving a Nissan Micra., which I understand is not available in the US, For this car one doesn’t need a key to start the engine.  Just the turn of a plastic ‘knob’ starts the car.  You do have to have the door key with the fob attached to open the car but no ignition key.
On this particularly beautiful summer day here in Wellington, with a friend, I went to visit my son and his family some 50 kms away.  We were early and knew that my son would be picking up his youngest son from school so we decided to take a stroll with Miss Lotte through Queen Elizabeth Park a large area of open space close to where he lived.  Miss Lotte loved the freedom of the park and we enjoyed the leisurely stroll taking in the scenery and eventually arriving at the beach.
When it was time to go to my son’s house I realised I had lost the key.  Obviously, I thought there was no way we could recover the keys although of course, we retraced our steps without success.
In desperation, I called the dealership and a very helpful man checked the records.  Everything was there except the key number.  He suggested that I get a local locksmith to open the car but that wouldn’t have solved anything I needed the fob to start the car.  He then arranged for a transporter to pick up the car and take it into them at which time he would attempt to get a replacement key.  He suggested that I travel with the transporter and they would lend me a car while they tried to solve this problem.
I phoned my son to tell him what happened and why we hadn’t arrived at his house.  He promptly got into his car and drove to the park.  Meantime, my friend decided to have another look around the area where we had been viewing the Memorial to the US Marines who had been camped in the area during the Second World War.  Suddenly there was a loud shout.  Hands waving in the air as in a one in a million chance, he had found the key and fob nestling in the long grass in front of the memorial.

So the day was saved; the transporter cancelled; the helpful young man at the dealership could go home at his usual time and so subdued and with egg on my face I went to my son’s house for dinner. We had lots of laughs over this.  Oh, I did try to get another fob for the car but was unsuccessful and so very shortly afterwards, and as I was going away for an indeterminate time,  I sold the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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