I've got the secret

[venta]

Continuing the theme[*] of pointless curiosity about other people's lives, today I would like to know what other people have on their keyrings. Do you have a "keyring", ie some sort of novelty object attached for the aesthetic wossnames? Do you have useful things which aren't keys? If your bunch o' keys is massively bulky, how do you carry it about?

My keys live in the front, right pocket of my trousers. At least, they usually do. Today I'm wearing a pair of rather elderly green cords, and there is a large hole in the pocket so my keys are very confusingly in my laptop bag.

To remain pocketable, the bunch of keys has to be reasonably small so it contains only the bare essentials: at present, it seems I consider these to be the four keys required to get into my flat, the key to my bike D-lock, a 4GB USB memory stick and a chunky bottle opener.

Yes, four keys to get into my flat. One for the door to the main building, one for the main lock on my front door. Plus two more keys for the two separate deadlocks on my front door. The flat's previous owners liked their door locks. (They really did - in order to open the back door there is one Yale lock, one mortice lock, one security chain and two bolts.)

The memory stick is of no particular function, it's just a useful sort of thing to have around. It's phsyically tiny, and was a Christmas present from ChrisC. Attaching it to my keys means I invariably have it with me.

The bottle opener is for crown cap bottles, and advertises Cantrell's Ginger Ale. (A cursory google to see if Cantrell's still exists turns up a suggestion that my bottle-opener is in fact cast iron. Wikipedia also tells me that Dr Thomas Cantrell claimed to have invented ginger ale.) I picked up the bottle-opener when we were clearing my great-aunt's house out in Sheffield seven or eight years ago. It lives on my keys for much the same reasons as a memory stick; it's always there, and you never know when you might want one.

What've you got on yours?

[*] You are almost all wrong about mayonnaise, y'know.

Comments

[uitlander]

Mine is multiple rings chained together, which are in turn on a chain attached to my trousers. I look like a gaoler, but this stops them being lost whilst cycling (which happened a few weeks after moving here and caused much hassle). Ring #1 has my departmental keys - office, building sub-master, wicket gate 1, wicket gate 2 and out of hours lift. Ring #2 has my college & bike keys on it - College sub master & locker, plus bike D-lock key. Ring #3 has a badger brewery crown cap opener. One should never be without a bottle opener, it has even come in handy at a wine tasting when one of the wines had a crown cap much to the shock of the host.

House keys and car keys are on their own rings which travel separately.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Separate key rings terrify me :) I can see why you'd want to, though, when you have such a mass of the things for work. (I get into my office with a plastic card thingy that lives in a wallet with my railway photo pass and season ticket.)

My car keys used to live on my key ring when I had a car. These days ChrisC and I share one set of keys for one car - it's fairly common that we leave the flat, get downstairs, get out, and both stand optimistically by the car looking at each other.

[uitlander]

The bunch is already too large for comfort. Fortunately the walking trousers I wear have multiple pockets, so they pop into a pcoket of their own away from the phone, wallet and change. We have entry cards for some things (mine lives in the wallet) - bike shed, some departmental doors & some college doors - but they have not yet replaced the sub masters for many things. Oh, and I forgot the separate key to the SCR loos which should be switching onto the entry card system over this vacation. I use public transport and bike more than I use the car, so removing that from the main rings frees up some space.

A number of people eye the chain up rather suspiciously. I have an idea this is signalling some sexual prefernces to which I don't personally subscribe, but I'd rather that than loose the keys again. Replacing that lot would be a monumental hassle.

[lnr]

I have a key in my desk drawer at work which lets me into a walk-in cupboard at the end of the corridor. In that cupboard is a keysafe to which I know the combination, and in the keysafe is a sub master key, which I need if I want to access the computer rooms out of hours. Thankfully so far I have not actually needed to do so. I don't actually merit a sub master of my own!

[uitlander]

Are you sure there isn't a minotaur hiding in there as well?

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

No, but there is a sign on the door saying "beware of the leopard".

[venta.livejournal.com]

Aha, the display department!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Also: wine with a crown cap? Wow. I have never seen that. Beer with corks, yes :)

[uitlander]

It was some weird vintage German white which the host thought would be a special treat (he likes German whites very much indeed). He was totally stumped by the crown cap, and as a non-beer drinker does not own such a thing as a crown cap opener. He has finally stopped teasing me about its presence!