On a warm December evening after a stunning day out and about in Abel Tasman, New Zealand, I was in my dormitory, searching for my key high and low. Pockets, rucksack, bum bag. It was nowhere to be found. I had been kayaking and hiking so that key could have ended up anywhere. Even deep down in the Tasman sea for all I knew. Inside the locker were my tablet, documents, valuables, and other bits and pieces I needed for travelling.
As it happens, this was terrible timing indeed. Shortly before Christmas Day, I was staying at a youth hostel in a little city on NZ’s south island. A bus taking me to the ferry terminal was due early in the morning and I needed to have everything packed to leave the hostel bright and early. Well, not ideal but then again, nothing a locksmith can’t fix, I told myself. However expensive the after-hours service may be.
I went down to the reception desk to explain the situation and inquire about locksmiths in Nelson. A young girl was in charge. The rest of the staff had left for the day. Continue reading “Learn some binomials with a story: The lost padlock key”