Why losing your house keys ain't worth it

T lost his keys last night. We were coming up from the coffeeshop after dinner and he realised he didn't have them with him. He had the mail, though, so he went back down to check the mailbox (he's left them there before) --- no keys. Coffeeshop --- no keys. He came up and got the spare mailbox key to see if someone had dropped the keys into the mailbox --- no dice.

We're getting the locks changed today.

Last night was jittery. Well, it was mostly okay because we were awake and watching TV, so it's not like we wouldn't've noticed if someone tried to unlock the front door while we were sitting right there. I kept hoping some kind neighbour would drop by and say, hey, look what I found, your keys? But by the time I went to bed at 10:45 pm, after a failed experiment to lock our gate without using the padlock (and I remembered why we don't lock it, because the lock's all stick after it was painted over before we moved into the apartment), we still had only one set of keys in the house --- mine. I'll confess I harboured thoughts of barricading the front area with chairs or other things that would make a clatter if someone tried to enter.

Sleeping was okay because T was up watching TV. Then I woke up at 5-something and could not go back to sleep. I kept hearing things and I checked the door once, even though it was latched from the inside, so even someone with keys couldn't get in without, say, a chainsaw). Eventually I dropped back to sleep --- only it was uneasy sleep so I felt even more tired when I woke up for work.

By the way, it's not that we live in a particularly dangerous neighbourhood or anything. However, the facts are:
- last year, there was an attempted break-in at the apartment next door.
- as of right now, someone has our apartment keys and knows which apartment they belong to because they were probably sticking out of our mailbox.

On the bright side, at least T doesn't have to go to work, so someone can stay home and guard the apartment. He just reported that he can't find the right kind of padlock at our neighbourhood provision shop, so I'm going to have to look for one after work.

No lunch break for me today. Much meetings instead: 8:30 am, 1 pm and 3 pm.