Why There’s A Spare Key
Today I transferred the ownership for a motor scooter that I purchased the day before yesterday and went for a ride–the first on my scooter. I bought the scooter for a number of reasons. I plan on saving a lot of money on gas. I hope to save money on parking. Scooter and motor scooters park free in Toronto. But mostly I just like the idea of travelling slower, being aware of the passing scenery in a new way, the wind in my face… I had originally thought I would buy a motor cycle but then last summer, everyone I knew that owned one crashed and all of them were injured–one quite seriously. Scooters go slower. Certainly mine does. It’s only 5o cc with a top speed of about 35 mph. Having ADHD I’m easily distracted and driving a car I miss a lot of stuff. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a good driver but I miss things I would rather enjoy. I feel when I’m on the scooter a bit like the feeling I described while Nordic walking a kind of zone thing and I guess that would be reason enough for getting it. Those moments certainly help to ease the tension of coping with the distractions and tensions that go with having ADHD.
Today I went to buy a lock that immobilizes the scooter when it is parked. The sales guy said to me, “Don’t lose the key. We’ll have to take a cutting torch to it to get it off.”
I replied, “I’m going to lose the key I have ADHD.”
He said, without a pause, “That’s why some people buy a third key.”
Most of the time I think I’m the only one (plus a few of my friends) who loses things like keys and directions and receipts. Hell I even lost the ownership certificate on the way back from registering the scooter this morning. The truth is I lose a lot of things but wallets and keys I don’t (touch wood). I use a trick I learned many years ago to always leave them in the same place. My wallet is only ever in two places. One is in my pocket and the other is on my bedroom dresser top. Same with the keys. Oh I have occasionally left my wallet on a counter top while paying for somethings but I’ve been lucky. Either the clerk found it and hurried after me or I’ve noticed before I got to far away. Once or twice I’ve left my keys in the lock in the door after opening it and noticed they weren’t in my pocket (or on my dresser ) and gone to look at the door.
My worry now is that I have put the scooter key and the lock key on one ring that is different from the one I use for all the rest of the keys. The reason is that I don’t want the whole bunch of them dangling together hanging from the scooter ignition. I am worried but I plan to follow the same rules although it will mean having two sets of keys in my pocket or on the top of my dresser. I do know that I won’t have to worry about leaving them in the door.