The High Security Skeleton Key
I’ve been meaning to post about this for ages!
While we are snug in our beds at night, we are supposed to rest easy knowing that the locks protecting our doors are the type pictured here that open with an old fashioned skeleton key (representing the latest in security technology)!
This gem of a lock features a keyhole though which you can see. If you are lucky, you have a little flap that can be moved to cover the hole, as we have in this apartment, shown above. Our last house, with a front door that opened directly onto the street, had no cover for the keyhole — you could bend down while on the sidewalk and peer into our kitchen and entry way without visual obstruction.
Lovely.
One last thought on locks. Everything in Buenos Aires is keyed from within and from without, which means you are locked into your apartment, and your building, unless you have a key to depart. (And if one spouse leaves the home with another spouse’s keys, then the keyless spouse will be unable to leave said home…)
We are presently utilizing the coping mechanism of denial to deal with our fear of being trapped in a BA building during a fire!
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In the fire-safety column, don’t forget to mention that all doors open “in” as well. I must have pushed 100 or more doors “out” before got the hang of it, just before going back to the US.
Then again, given that all buildings are built primarily of concrete, there were a *lot* less fires around. I think that I only heard one or two fire engines in 10+ months in BsAs.
Dennis, you are so good for pointing out that modern construction techniques do help decrease the risk of fire. But the door swing thing…another good point that makes me freak out about fire again!