Locking the doors

I was browsing my old posts and remembered that I had promised to tell everyone the lock story. Well here goes. My home in Libya consisted of a large three story building the main level being the guest level with a marble stairway going upwards to the two apartments above. Mine being the first one and my brother in law Asaid having the next. There the stairway continued to the roof where another level could always be added on. Each level you had a large two door entry and this door became the final straw for this camels back. I told you how the nieces and nephews thought my apartment was the hangout and were in and out all the time. Getting into stuff and constantly messing with the kids things. There were locks on every door in the apartment but with one key we didn't like to lock the rooms and with them shut you got no air coming through the rooms. Well we had issue with a few doors while there. First my bedroom door got locked and somehow the key for one side was not the same as the other side? So we went through a large box of keys trying to find one that would open the door. My room did not have a balcony and the only way you could reach it was with a very tall ladder. Finally one of my sons found a key that opened my room so I was off locking up my room. I took the keys out. A few days later a Motorola Razr was missing from my room and no one knew where it was. Its just a 350 dollar phone. I was blamed for not locking up my room. Only kids had been in my room and it was on a high shelf so someone knew what happened. The next problem was the front door and the girls bedroom door. The kids hated having everyone in the apartment and my mother in law was phobic about the balcony on my girls room that the room had to be locked all the time. So this room was kept shut and the kids kept the key. Again one key and they were always the one who did not have it. I mean how much can a copy cost? So we took to locking the front door only if someone was home to open it. Again one key. The computer sat on the only table in the house in the main room of my apartment. And everytime a niece or nephew was in the apartment it was prime target for little hands. My youngest niece loved to pull on the table cloth and try to pull it down. So everytime my kids heard her coming up the stairs they would reach over and push the door shut. The doors in Libya are solid wood and they would slam loudly that would get a yell from grandma downstairs as well. Why were the kids always slamming the doors! Well there was the air doing it too. So why don't I shut all the doors????? Duh its hot!!! One day the main door lock got jammed and as I explained my sons had to scale the wall of the main fence, go to the old house rooftop and then enter the balcony door that my mother-in-law was insistent should always be locked and they went inside and opened the door. When I got home I took off the lock and used my tools to fix it. I oiled the mechanism and pounded down the small bar that had been bent by shutting the door. A few days later it was jammed again. This time I was inside and I grabbed my tools and took the damn lock off for good. I was going to buy another lock as this one seemed old and did not want to work well. My bathroom door also did not lock. Now if you have no shower curtains why would you need a lock? And one bathroom to boot. I took that lock apart as someone had jammed paper inside it and found that the locking arm was broken off. I gave money to my brother-in-law to buy another one. It took a week to get it, and it didn't fit so he had to go back. Finally we got the new lock and he went up to put it on for me. When I arrived he was putting on the old hardware. Why? Because the new one would have made a small part of the unpainted portion of the door show. Duh do I have no brains? Ok, and he took the other parts to boot. Excuse me. I took the front door lock downstairs and told mom I was going to the plumbing store to get a new lock. But I got busy and she said wait and Asaid would take me later. When the day was cooler. Parts for electrical and homes are in the plumbing store. Well we didn't go that day or the next so finally I took it in my own hands. Where was the lock I pulled off the door so I could match it? She didn't know. Ok, I remember what it looks like so there were a few stores in walking distance and off I went. I found a lock and brought it back, wrong size. Ok go back the next day. The one I need he doesn't have but I can come back later. Ok, I gave him my number and told him to call me when he had the part. Two days later and I still did not hear from him. The kids were going nuts as there was no way to keep my niece or anyone else out of the house. So as I mentioned I was out in Tripoli a few days later and knew exactly the size I needed by then as well as the shape of the lock. I found one a stronger one of the exact same size. I got up the next morning I wanted to put the lock on. I started to put it on and the old one had a small pin for the locking mechanism while this one was a round bolt much stronger. But the hole was cut into a square and needed a bit of filing to open it more or a drill and I had brought bits to make holes. No one had a drill. Ok, I went upstairs and was using a kitchen knife to try to cut the hole slightly larger. I'm talking centimeters here guys. Now anyone that knows diddle about a kitchen knife knows they are far from sharp. Especially the ones there. So this was slow going, I was getting frustrated. I finally called my brother in law Salem, do you have a drill? Yes he did and he would bring it over later today. He arrived about an hour later. And I went down to see him. My father in law asked why I needed the drill. I told him I was trying to fix my lock on my apartment. Well he came up to see what I meant. He asked what happened to the old lock I told him I had removed it and a part was broken and I had fixed it a few times and just decided to buy another better lock. He informed me that the lock was fine before I came!!! I'm sure it was...He asked where the old one was and I told him that I didn't know I had taken it downstairs and it had disappeared. I told him I just needed to open the hole a bit more and the new lock would fit just fine. He looked and said no it would not, a small portion would overlap onto the frame trim and that would have to be cut and so the lock was too big!!! Hey were talking a centimeter again. I can trim it easily. No way was I too touch the trim. What did I know about locks? OK, I had enough... I've replaced every lock in my house and broken through dozens over the years. But hey he knew more than a female...so I threw the lock down and walked out of the apartment. I handed the drill to my brother-in-law and told him to forget it. I had enough. The next morning I left the house for good. Another problem was at night. My mother in law would lock all the doors and windows on the main level and the gates as well. So if we were out later than 10pm, we were stuck, at 45 that's not a easy pill to swallow. I told her how is this my house if I am locked out of it at night and I cannot lock my doors inside as needed? They could keep their beloved house. Well I know its long but hey aren't most of my stories? hehe.