This is a story about the time I got locked out of my studio apartment in Tartu for 3 nights. It's not very interesting, but I remember every detail so vividly that I had to get it out in writing, which will hopefully result in this memory leaving me alone now.
I had watched a movie at the theater in Tasku with a colleague and then walked home. When I got home I couldn't find my keys and had two different locks to unlock - the outside door, and my studio apartment door. I walked back to the theater but another movie was happening. They advised me to return at 9:30 the next morning. I searched for my keys on the ground the whole way home but did not find them, and wound up calling that colleague who I had watched the movie with to sleep on his couch.
I returned to the theater in the morning and someone helped me comb the aisles and rows in search of my keys. We found nothing. Eventually I had to give it up as they needed to start seating for the 10:00 show.
The next stop was the broker's office on Raekoja platz, to whom I gave rent money. She didn't have any keys but she kindly searched the landlord's office for me. We didn't find any and she told me that the landlord was on vacation and that I might try to call her and ask.
Before taking that step I went back to my apartment to make sure that it actually was locked, as maybe I had just left my keys at home. I waited for another tenant of the building to open the outside door and I slipped inside behind him feeling like James Bond. My apartment was indeed locked.
I finally called my landlord, to whom I was also separated by two doors - we didn't speak a common language, and she was on vacation in the Canary Islands for another two weeks. I could only understand that she was very angry and that she could do nothing for me, as the keys were locked up in her empty country home hours from Tartu.
A close friend let me stay with her for the next couple of nights. My books and laptop were in my apartment, and I didn't enjoy the library atmosphere much, nor did I enjoy spending lengthy amounts of time in any public places, so I spent most of the time aimlessly wandering on the outskirts of Tartu and listening to trains go by. It wasn't too cold yet, and the days weren't so painfully short. This time was nice in some ways, but it also felt like being stuck inside a box that is slowly getting smaller and smaller and will eventually crush me, like on Star Wars Episode IV when they get stuck in a giant trash compactor:
Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) Trash Compactor scene
Eventually I asked a helpful colleague to please translate for me and my landlord and see if there were any more options. She relayed the message that I could go through a specific company to get a duplicate key made to the outside door, and then I could call a locksmith to break the deadbolt to my apartment and install a new lock and key, which could be a bit expensive. I headed straight for the company with no hesitation or care about cost, feeling a huge burst of adrenaline.
We also didn't speak a common language, so I called another friend who kindly came and translated the situation. The key wouldn't be able to be made until the next day. I stayed at my friend's a third night.
The next day the person who could help me wasn't in that morning, so I needed to come back in mid-afternoon. I went to the secret beanbag deep in the corridors of the library bookshelves and took a long nap, as I was starting to feel dizzy after missing a few days of medication. We were able to order the key later that day. I needed to travel across town to pick it up in exactly one hour, shortly before they closed. My friend called the locksmith for me and even drove me to pick up the keys. He then dropped me off at my apartment to wait for the locksmith.
45 minutes after the locksmith was supposed to arrive, he called. He told me "There is no Turu 6. Where are you!?"
I replied that I am actually on Tiigi 6, not Turu 6. He said,"Do you even know what town you are in!?" Then he said that he would be there in half an hour. 1.5 hours later, the locksmith arrived. He broke apart the whole lock system on my door (it was pretty cool to watch, all things considered) and replaced it, then gave me 3 keys for it. So I didn't get crushed by a giant trash compactor after all! Lõpp.
