Dear LPG readers,

LPG stated that May was story telling month and I have a story with a moral to tell.   

I think that as you get older there seems to be less space where you live.  It really makes no sense because the children have moved out and taken most of their things with them and there should be an extra spare room or two in the house.

Perhaps it is a case of you always have to be on your guard when you are putting things away.   I used to have a special place for every one of my way too many belongings but finding special places for some things can get you into a bit of trouble.

I was going on holiday for a couple of weeks a couple of years before the pandemic put a halt to most travel and, ever the person who wants to be ready in advance, I started my packing nice and early.  Having the case ready should you see things a bit in advance is always a good idea but where do you put it to ensure that you can get at it easily? I put mine in a space by the wall between a small bedroom chest of drawers and the bedroom door so that I could reach it each time I was inspired to add an outfit to the mix, and all was good.  

Over the next few days, outfits went in and came out as I decided what would be appropriate, and just being able to swing the case from its place to the edge of the bed made for convenient clothes shuffling.  Well, the case got heavier and heavier as departure time loomed closer and closer, but clothes still went in and came out.

One day I was busy putting something in and the phone rang resulting in my swing not being as accurate as usual.  I put the case back and then quickly left the room to get the phone which I had left downstairs.

The call was from a friend I have not heard from for a while, so we got talking.  I did hear a thud, but I was far too busy to worry about it really at the time.  When I got upstairs to return to my bedroom I pushed the door, but it would not open.  it was then that I realised what the thud was, it was my case which had fallen forwards and was, at that point, flat, horizontal and wedged between the chest of drawers and the door effectively meaning that I was locked out of the room and no key was going to help me to get back in.

I could get my arm in a bit but not far enough to reach the case, but I was lucky, it was summer, and I had left one of the bedroom windows open.  In the end I got a neighbour to climb in through the window and remove the case which made all the difference.

The moral of the story is that you should be careful what you store behind the door of any room or, like me, on that occasion you could find yourself locked out of a room in such a way that not even the key will let you back in. 

UF, Welling