I have been helping out various plot tenants on a huge allotment site (176 plots, big and small, with three areas for parking) in Woodford, East London, watering the plants and doing some weeding.
For those who might not know: allotments are plots of government-owned land rented out to people by local councils (/ government authorities) for them to plant things -- mainly vegetables, sometimes fruit trees, occasionally flowers.
The site has a gate at each end, with a padlock for locking up.
On quite a few occasions, I'd arrive (on foot) at the gate to find people just leaving/arriving in their cars, so I'd offer to lock up after them. Since I'd be locking up anyway, I might as well save them the trouble of getting in and out of their cars to lock up once they'd gone through the gates.
On one such occasion, the owner of a car asked me, "Do you have a key?"
Huh??!! How else was I to lock up after him? Was he thinking of having me take his padlock key off him while he got into his car and drove past the gate, then locking up for him and handing his key back to him (with him seated in his car)??
How did I get in in the first place (or out, once I'd got in)? Hang around each time on the off chance I'd catch someone arriving or leaving?
(London, 2026)
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