When we'd come back from the river, Evelyn decided to go up to her room (I think to get her book). When she got there, she discovered that the room was locked. So she called out to me to get her the key.
All the rooms upstairs were locked, and I thought it would be good if Evelyn unlocked all the rooms we were using. So I got the keys to rooms 1, 2 and 5. I thought if I threw them up, with her key last, Evelyn would unlock the rooms for us.
First, I threw up the key to room 1. I thought I had thrown it just hard enough. I saw it arc up, and watched, amazed, as it went past Evelyn, who was standing on the balustrade, waiting to catch it. OOPS! It went past Evelyn, and I heard the rattle as the key landed on the roof, just above her head.
I had to laugh. We had gone to all the trouble of locking the rooms to keep our belongings safe, and now we were locked out!
I looked at the height of the roof. There was no way we would be able to climb up and get the key - the risk of falling was too great! We would need a ladder. I walked over to the kiosk to ask about a ladder, only to find that the manager on duty was at the house. I had some trouble explaining WHY I needed a ladder, but eventually Greg went to get one.
By this time, Bob had heard of the problem. He tried sitting on the rail of the balustrade, but couldn't reach the keys. His hand only reached the gutter, and he couldn't feel the keys. Greg came back with an extension ladder and climbed up. The key was just a little to the left of where Bob had been reaching.
I got a lot of well deserved ribbing over the keys.
At one point, Jon decided it was his turn. "Look Mum, key on the roof!" he cried, as he tossed the key up, inside the kitchen. I glanced up, just in time to see the key gently tossed up, to land ON TOP of the bearer supporting the joist. I had to laugh at the look of horror on Jon's face as he realised that he had done the same as me - misjudged the toss of the key. Fortunately, his key was easier to retrieve. He just had to move the kitchen table and stand on that. We had some explaining to do later, as to why the table was out of position.