Did you lock your doors?

[TastyReuben]

This comes from talking with a fellow at the bar night before last, who turned out to be my neighbor several houses down.

When you were a child, did your family lock the doors to the house before turning in at night and when leaving the house empty during the day?

Growing up in the 1970’s-1980’s, my folks never locked the house…ever. Even when leaving town for whatever reason, the house remained unlocked. Same was true for any outbuildings.

Also, we never took the keys out of any vehicles - everything had the keys right there in the ignition, ready to go.

My parents changed that sometime after my retired in the late 1990’s, though I don’t remember any specific reason for changing it.

Funny side story: the way I found out my parents started locking the house was that I’d planned on coming home around Christmas, which they knew, but instead of waiting until the morning for the 13-hour drive, I left the moment I got off work, and arrived home around 4AM or so, in a snowstorm…and the house was locked up tight - I had to sit in my truck for a few hours, until I saw the lights come on!

 

[medtran49]

My grandparents who lived out in the country didn't until late 1980s, early 1990s when they moved from the farm into the "city," though it really wasn't, just a tiny country town.

My dad worked the night shift at the newspaper so my mother did. She also bought a small lady's gun when i was really young. One night when I was a young teen my dad got sick during his shift and decided to come home without calling. My mother nearly shot him, thinking he was trying to break in. He called after that...

The reason I remember her buying the gun when I was really young is that we were getting ready for church and she pulled a shoebox down to get shoes for her outfit. Well, she kept the gun on top of that box, but forgot. It hit the ground, went off, and the bullet went through several of my dad's suits, ending up in a shoulder pad of 1 of them. Good thing I was outside with daddy because we were running late. I'd have been in the closet with her otherwise, helping.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Growing up in the 1970’s-1980’s, my folks never locked the house…ever. Even when leaving town for whatever reason, the house remained unlocked. Same was true for any outbuildings.

Also, we never took the keys out of any vehicles - everything had the keys right there in the ignition, ready to go.

Exactly the same in the UK. My dad left the keys in the car; there was no front gate or fence, and nothing ever happened...
Until one day he was stopped by the police in town.
" Sir - did you leave in a hurry today?"
" Nope - why?"
"Because your slippers are on top of the car".

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

No, nor the windows and usually the doors will be wide open, just on the flyscreen meshes. And if you are really lucky the keys will still be in the ignition of my 4x4. If not, then they're hanging up in the kitchen in plain sight.

It's also not uncommon for people to not lock their vehicles on the towns around here (the small ones).

We did lock the house in the very last place we lived in the UK, but most of my life has been unlocked doors and windows, keys in the vehicle and so on. I know our friends in the south of England still don't lock up and keys will be hanging by the front door for their vehicles.

I do remember one Sunday night getting home from a weekend away (since Friday morning) to find our front door wide open and it wasn't a standard width front door, but an old Victorian one that was maybe 50% wider than a normal door, so when it was wide open, it really was obvious. Our first thoughts were not that we had been burgled, but on the number of pheasants we'd find inside the house... 5 birds and 1 bat all said and told. there was alot of cleaning up to be done.

 

[Mountain Cat]

Back in the 2000s. my widowed dad got involved with a woman living in rural Virginia. She never had house keys to her farmhouse.

(Even though back in the 1990s some local brats had set one of the barns there on fire).

 

[JAS_OH1]

Back in the 2000s. my widowed dad got involved with a woman living in rural Virginia. She never had house keys to her farmhouse.

(Even though back in the 1990s some local brats had set one of the barns there on fire).

Long time no see, what's new? Hope all is well!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Back in the 2000s. my widowed dad got involved with a woman living in rural Virginia. She never had house keys to her farmhouse.

(Even though back in the 1990s some local brats had set one of the barns there on fire).

When we first moved to Australia, not a single door to the house we lived in then could lock. The keys didn't match or the locks were not functional. I did have to point out that it should be our choice to decide to leave the doors and windows unlocked. That's 8 years ago.

If fact around here, if the house is closed and locked up there is a very good chance that the person is actually away. Left open means they are expecting the be home soon.