Four Decades of Keys

About twelve years ago, when I first brought my house, for some reason, I put a padlock on the master switch below the electric meter outside. I thought it odd that such a switch should be there, allowing anyone to simply switch it off.

Perhaps I was thinking if someone was going to break in to rob and kill me, I’d prefer to experience that with some lights on. I did just move from the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, which had one of the highest murder rates in the country at the time.

As there was an option to lock the electrical panel door, I did so, and then totally forgot about it.

Even though today I have a high-end security system, as I tend to travel a lot, crime in Piney Point is negligible – like pretty much non-existent. Pretty stupid worry that was.

I thought today, perhaps I should see if I still have the key just to get that old lock off. It was a good quality Master padlock, but had rusted over the years.

The first thing I did was to shoot a little WD40 into the top and bottom of the lock. Then I dug in to a fireproof safe, where I keep mostly unimportant stuff, and found a metal key box. Inside were all the keys pictured above.

Aside from a slight few, there was no connection between me and any of those keys – but as I had them, there had to be at one time.

If you look center top, one key is attached to what we called a “roach clip” back in the 1970’s. That key I remember as the key to my first ever apartment across from Fountain Park in my home town.

Merely possessing that “clip” could land one in jail after the ill-fated war on drugs began. Imagine that! That’s likely why I kept it.

The other keys – just lost memories of the dozens of places I have lived over the decades. I guess I will keep them, as they don’t take up much space.

Well, I did manage to find the key to the rusty old master padlock, and the WD40 did its magic! Oddly I decided to replace it with a new brass lock, with two keys located in safe possession. Old fears, as unfounded as they may be, linger on!