NY wrote
T i m wrote

I once just stopped at the side of the road outside a shop and because
I was only putting something though the letter box, just closed the
car door. A couple seconds later I heard it central lock itself (with
all the keys now locked inside). Whilst I had a spare set at home, I
couldn't get in till the Mrs was available but considering it was a
Honda under the Rover badges, went into my local motorcycle shop and
borrowed (with permission) a Honda key from a 125 Honda motorbike. It
opened the car straight away. ;-)

More 'public' was when it immobilised itself (I didn't have an
immobiliser fob etc) just as we were supposed to be driving off the
I.O.W ferry. ;-(

Embarrassing. I bet you held up the whole queue in the IOW ferry :-( The
nearest I've done to causing a major hold-up was when my clutch cable
snapped as I was setting off when I was the lead car at traffic lights.
Because this made the car stall in-gear, there was no way to get the car
into neutral so it was jammed solid. And because the car was on a slight
slope, it was difficult to rock the car uphill to relieve the pressure on
the transmission that was jamming the gear lever. Eventually two burly
guys came to help and were able to move the car uphill to let me put it in
neutral, so I could roll backwards out of the way.

I was once behind a car that wouldn't start as it was about to drive off
the Lymington/Yarmouth IOW ferry and I was impressed with how quickly the
port staff arranged a vehicle to tow it clear so everyone else could get
off. It must be a common occurrence for them to have a towing vehicle
readily available.

When I got a house and a car of my own, I very quickly learned the habit
of always keeping the keys in my pocket apart from when they were in the
front door lock or the car's ignition -

Wouldn't work for me because I do have a snooze on
the bed most days. Tho I spose that given I take the
glasses off when I do that, I could remove the keys too.

and always removing the car keys (and, nowadays, locking the car) whenever
I got out, even for a brief instant.

I don't, but my car doesn't ever auto lock. Never forget
to take the keys out tho, likely because you need to use
the fob to lock it and I hardly ever forget to do that even
when out shopping or at a particular garage sale.

I used to leave my car unlocked (though not with the keys in) while I went
into the kiosk to pay for fuel; not any more!

Yeah, I normally do lock it then. Tho one of our chains,
BP now lets you pay using your phone so you never
have to go inside to pay again. Not usually the cheapest
tho and the petrol station I normally used has an
automatic discount for seniors, tho it isnt always
the cheapest even after the discount.

So far I've not managed to lock myself out of my house/car,

I did once when I was building the house with the beetle.
Had to smash the quarter vent. Hard to do that with the
Getz and I do have the spare in the house. No use when
out of town tho. Easy enough to lock yourself out because
you can lock the car with a door open and it will lock when
the door is closed.

and I very rarely lose my keys because *by definition* they are in my
pocket if they are not in the lock that they operate.

It means that if I ever have to leave the house in a hurry (eg fire, flood
etc) then I will always have my keys - as long as I have time to get
dressed ;-) And even if I didn't, I'd know where to grab my trousers on
the way out so I had my keys.

I wouldn't normally lock the house if leaving due to a fire. Flood
isnt possible here. Tho I spose I would want to move the car if
the house was on fire because I park it next to the house.

I'm probably unusual:

Yep, very.

a lot of people empty their keys out of their pockets at night

I take the keys out of my pocket whenever I come into the
house after driving the car.

and hang them on a rack

I put mine in a stack of those big plastic filing bins normally
used for filing paper, with the wallet. Its got the other less
used keys and and the spare car keys in it too.

(implicitly 'labelled' "car thieves, here are the keys"),

My place is such a mess it isnt that obvious, but those
I know know where it is because you can see me grab
the keys and wallet as I leave the house to drive etc
or just to unlock the trailer when they borrow it.

and also put their keys down somewhere while they are doing something
else.

Mine always go in the same place when they arent in my pocket.

I wish I had a tenner for every time we've been about to go out and SWMBO
says "where are my keys" and we have to go on a hunt for them.

Yeah, that's why I always put them in the same place.

OK, I'm as bad with my reading glasses - now I need them even for using
the computer and cutting up veg for dinner, as well as for reading,

I wear glasses full time except when reading a physical book etc.

I really ought to put them on a cord round my neck,

I normally put them in the same place
when sleeping or reading a physical book.

except that looks naff

True.

and like something my grandpa used to do ;-)

Yeah, we never could get my dad to wear his
call for help button thing, it appeared to be
too much of an admission that he had passed
his useby date for him. He had got a mobile
phone very early on so he could call someone
if he managed to fall over when out walking
about the retirement village etc tho.