Locked in

I’ve got a confession to make: on Sunday Harry managed to lock me in the conservatory – and with Melissa sound asleep upstairs, I was stranded.

It all happened pretty quickly. Harry and I got up at about 7am, went down and ate breakfast in the kitchen before going through to the conservatory, which has an outside door with a lock on it.

After playing for about half an hour, Harry announced that he was going to fetch his tools from the dining room and promptly disappeared next door. I flicked on the television to watch the news headlines and settled back on the sofa, waiting for Harry to return.

Sure enough, a minute or two later, Harry appeared at the door, tools in hand, but instead of coming into the room he grinned and shut the door. Again, I thought nothing of it, until I heard the lock click.

I jumped up and immediately tried the door. To my dismay, it was locked – I’d foolishly left the key in – and I was trapped. Harry soon realised I was stuck and started shouting ‘Daddy’, while I tried to keep calm and explain how to go about unlocking the door.

Despite his best efforts, though, the door remained firmly locked while I frantically tried to work out how to escape.

I knew I could get outside but as both doors into the house were locked, it wouldn’t be much use. My last resort would have been the kitchen window, but it looked very small and I wasn’t convinced I would be able to squeeze through.

So, putting aside my dented pride, I decided to try a different tactic – getting Harry to wake Melissa. Harry responded brilliantly, running to the foot of the stairs and shouting “Mummy, help daddy, now!”

Five minutes later, a sleepy looking Melissa emerged – and immediately burst out laughing when she realised what had happened, although she later told me she’d panicked when she first heard Harry shouting, worrying that I had fallen and hurt myself.

Needless to say, the key will never be left in the lock again.