Breaking and Entering

Amy came home from work today to see a wide-open front door to the boat and a smashed-up padlock.

Luckily, I had done the smashing, not some local ruffian, as the ABUS combination lock (purchased in Islington prior to our journey) that had served us well ever since, opening and closing many times, decided to seize solid.

Half an hour of trying the combination, resetting and fiddling failed to open it, so I took a hacksaw to it. It was reassuringly noisy- a thief couldn't have done that undetected. However, I got impatient and used a large hammer.

This was quite disappointing. One hard blow onto the dials, and the lock clicked open. Luckily, I managed to phone up Amy who returned from work with a new, stronger lock from B&Q to replace the now useless lump of brass and stainless steel.

It makes a good paperweight; that's about all it can be used for now, though.