Bad Day, looking to vent

[Kathryn]

I have had a lousy day and I'm looking to vent my frustration by ranting at
you guys - so feel free to ignore this. Also while sympathy would be
appreciated, boy would it, I realise that the whole darn mess was my own
fault and is probably pretty amusing in retrospect - not that I'm far enough
away from the event to laugh yet but give it a few weeks ....

Anyway for this to make sense I have to explain about where I live so bear
with me. I live in a first floor flat over a shop. There is a main door from
the street which is kept locked and can only be opened from the inside or
the outside with a key. This opens on to a staircase which has a tiny
landing at the top with two doors leading off it, one into my flat and one
into my landlady's 2nd flat. Both these doors are fitted with yale locks so
that when you shut the door it can only be opened with a key or from the
inside. (btw my landlady lives in Spain most of the year and is
uncontactable). Is there any smart arse out there who has seen the disaster
in the making here?

So guess what I did at 5pm this afternoon. I wanted to run out to the
supermarket so I grabbed my bag, left the flat, slammed the door behind me,
and it was at this point that I remembered that my keys were on the counter
in the kitchen. So there I am stuck in this stairway - no way back into my
flat or out on to the street, hottest day of the year so far, no ventilation
 Thank God for mobile phones is all I can say. So first I dialled the
letting agents but since they aren't managing the flat they don't have a key
 So I rang my dad at work - just missed him he's on his way home. So i spent
the next hour phoning home every 5 minutes trying to get hold of him and
getting hotter and more stressed as time went on. 6pm I finally get hold of
him. He suggested I phone the police which I did only to be told that they
couldn't do anything and I was so low on their list of priorities that it
would be several hours before they could turn up to do nothing anyway. (The
police station is at the end of my road, 5 minutes walk away). By this time
I was on the verge of hysteria so I phone home again. My father then phones
the same police station to explain that I have a window open round the back
and all I need is someone to break in. They suggest I phone a locksmith -
which is great but I don't have the number of any local locksmith in my
phone memory and my dad lives too far away to have a phone book with any
local locksmiths. In desperation he phoned the fire brigade. 5 minutes later
a fire engine complete with flashing lights turned up outside my front door
- never have I been so relieved to see anyone in my life. One wonderful
fireman called John chatted to me through the letter box in an attempt to
calm me down and stop be from having some kind of panic attack. A second guy
tried every house key he could steal from his buddies in a vain attempt to
open the door (well it was worth a try I guess) and then went to try lifting
the latch with a screwdriver. Meanwhile two of their colleagues went round
the back to try and get through the window. Finally at five to seven one of
them got in and opened my flat door from the inside so I could receive my
keys and open the main door. The fireman pretty much ordered my to get spare
keys cut to leave in the lobby in case of a fire, something I will be doing
tomorrow morning. Having got out into the air the panic rapidly became
embarassment since the whole street seemed to be taking a keen interest
(presumably due to the large red fire engine blocking the street). The
firemen were all very sweet about it. Of course by this stage the
supermarket was shut but I really didn't care any more. All I wanted was a
long cold drink and then to get back into my flat and hide for a few days!

Anyway, still stressed but recovering!

K