You wouldn’t think there could be that many stories about keys, but as we were collating these stories, we realised that we’ve had some hilarious moments with keys. This is the first of them and I’ll intersperse them throughout the year!

Sean’s favourite key drama happened when our eldest two, Tom and Millie, were very young. Tom was two and Millie was under one. I had to take the kids out to do a food shop so took them out to the car, got them strapped in, put the buggy in the boot with the changing bag. I then reached into the changing bag to get the keys to drive. They weren’t there.

I was sure they should be in there. I emptied the entire bag into the boot and couldn’t find them. Then I repacked it and unfolded the buggy. I must have left them in there. But no. Still calm I realised I must have got them caught on one of the kids as I put them in their car seats. Nope. I strapped them back in the car.

Panic began to rise. I knelt down on the ground and looked under the car. I peered into the drain by the curb. Ran back to the house and checked they weren’t on the floor by the front door.

They had vanished.

Fortunately, I had my mobile with me. I called Sean at work, more than a little panicky, saying I couldn’t find the keys. He was very calm and said they must be there somewhere or I wouldn’t have been able to get the kids in the car. He suggested I look for a little longer and if I really couldn’t find them, he’d walk home and give me his keys.

Well, I searched and searched, now very tearful and exhausted. Shopping forgotten, I just wanted to get into the house. I called Sean back, and he agreed to come and rescue me!

It was about a fifteen-minute walk for him to come home and when he got to our road; I saw him running to get to me. He arrived at me at the car, walked around it, closed the boot and pulled the keys from the lock, handed them to me and ran back to work! Ooops!