Lost Keys - Problem Solved

Spiral or coil keychain, or spring keychain. In green. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Lost Keys Problem Solved. Comical Poem by Angela Lansbury. 

Where did I lose my keys?

Did I lose them, did they lose me?

Lost Property has lots of them

To prevent burglars, with no name

My new bag contained a key chain

My keys had a place, I was glad

But when the fabric fell apart

My homeless keys and I felt sad

I cut out the sewn in ribbon

Thought, I'll sew it on my new bag

I had no time to sew it

Used the large safety pin I had

I kept my keys on the lanyard

Moved and pinned inside each new bag

I was organized, soon forgot

Those lost key troubles I'd once had

When I went out without a bag

I pinned key ribbons to pockets

Not sewn, secured with safety pins

Like plugs stuck firmly in sockets

Now I always have my door keys

'though my pocket's a bit heavy

I never have to wait and hunt

Nor pay cut a new key levy

Once my mother lost her house keys

We found them after she had died

In the pocket of a beach bag

Before donating, looked inside

Then our son lost our front door keys

We had to add another lock

Keys were under his friend's sofa

Their cleaning lady was a rock 

I've made a long list of places

Where our sets of keys like to hide

Inside an old coat, or jacket

And each suitcase, search each pocket

It's like losing your train ticket

To prevent the loss, day and night

You simply must decide - always

Which pocket, the left, or the right

When I go to a conference

Or a one hotel holiday

I keep the bedroom key on a lanyard

Round my neck. There it stays all day.

Some people lose keys so often

I call it losing keys disease

It's no good asking dead mother

Paying to God, upon your knees

Just have a designated place

Maybe inside a hollow book

In your jacket's right-hand pocket

Or in a cupboard on a hook

In a hotel beside the bed

Or on the hook behind the door

On the door handle, on the floor

Then you won't lost them any more 

I've listed the common places

You can find door keys or car keys

So when we're in your home or room

Find those vital keys quickly, please.

-ends-

Updated with improved syllable count on October 22nd 2026.

A spiral key chain takes up less room in a pocket but enables you to reach a lock without detaching the key from a bag or jacket pocket. If the spiral is not long enough, lengthen it by adding another.

Please share links to your favourite poems. I wrote this poem for my blog, comical poems hazel nutter.blogspot.com. For this travel blog I added the lines about holidays and bedroom keys I am copying this poem to my dress blog, dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Find my suitcase, my toddler, my family, my mother, my passport, my home doorkeys, my hotel doorkeys!

 Lost People

My friend lost her mother for an hour. My friend's mother made a mistake and thought they were going directly to their later destination for lunch. three of them were due to go to the lunch place eventually. 

Meanwhile the mother was missing. Eventually my friend was able to contact her mother.  But by then my friend was on her way to pick up her mother at work. My friend was in a Uber and they are not allowed to change their route. You are quoted for a price to go from a to b and that is qhere you must go. 

How can you find someone or something which has gone missing? The find my phone tracker has lots of uses for travellers, and items and people which go off travelling.

Key Finder

I had a device for finding keys. If you shouted, the keys bleeped. However, the keys bleedped when the phone rang, the doorbell rang, you argued too loudly, called to someboody in another room, turned on the TV. Then you had to run to the keys and turn off the bleed and re-set it. 

It went off when a car alarm rang in the street outside and you were sleeping. The car alarm turned off but the key alarm stayed on. Eventually we got tired of this and disconnected the bleep.

We solved the lost key problem by attaching a lanyard to the inside of the handbag or tote bag or rucksack, wtih the doorkey attached. 

A lanyard round my neck worked well for doorkeys with a large hole, including hotel doorkeys. 

Key Card

However, this went wrong when I was at the Writers' Summer School at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, England, UK. The bedrooms had a key card which you had to put in the slot by the door to operate the lights.

I managed to work out how to operate the card. So far so good.

On day two I went out holding the books I need for the workshop I was giving on promote your books. When I returned just before midnight, I realised that I must have left the key in the slot.

I phoned the emergency helpline. They told me that the man on the reception desk handed over to the night porter at midnight. He could not leave and take the ten minute walk to me, then back again. So I would have to wait for the night porter, who would be informed of my predicament. 

I sat on the floor of the corridor outside my room. I was tired. I felt foolish. 

Luckily, a girl who had been on my course came along. She knew me and seeing me sitting on the floor took she pity on me. She invited me into her room to wait. We had a very jolly conversation about my course, books, flowers, and all sorts of things. 

Then I walked back to reception to be sure they had my message. It was soon sorted.

Afterwards, other people told me that often you can use another card of similar size to turn on the lights. Providing it is the sort of system which operated simply on the pressure, not on reading a specific card.

Find my suitcase

Find my bag

Find my jacket

find my hat

Find my passport

Find my tickets

Find my doorkeys

find my toddler

Find my hotel.

Find my cat

Find my dog

Find my parrot

Find my tortoise

Find my lunch

Find my boots

Find my skis

Find my guide

Find my taxi

The hotel may stay where you left it, with your suitcase inside your bedroom. But if you are in Hong Kong and get into a taxi and the driver does not understand you, it would be handy to show where on the map you need to get to.

Useful Websites

https://www.lazada.sg/products/smart-mini-gps-tracker-anti-lost-finder-itag-tracker-alarm-gps-locator-wireless-positioning-wallet-pet-key-wireless-40-i2251302956-s12963545725.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201439790

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldTracer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keycard_lock

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Lost Keys - Is It your marriage or your Jetlag Making You Forgetful?

I overheard a woman saying she had lost her keys dozens of times. All through her first marriage.

But during her second marriage, she never once lost them.

What does this mean?  Three possibilities;

1 Freud might say this symbolised the fact that she wanted to be out of the house with her first husband and out of the marriage.

2 Maybe her first marriage was so disturbed that she was continually forgetful, worrying about her marriage.

3 Maybe she was awake all night during her first marriage - which was about sex and nothing else, or on the contrary, no sex, just sleepless nights, making her forgetful and inefficient the next day.

Where do I get point three from? I noticed that after a long flight, and jet lag, my husband forgot things several times.

Either you are so tired that your mind is empty and not on your surroundings and tasks.
Or your mind is so full with items you need to deal with, that you forget the 'little things' like door keys and phones which cause so much trouble when lost.

How To Keep Your Keys Safe
I learned this trick when I had a new soft handbag with a long ribbon from the pocket with a metal circle to which you could attach a door key. After the bag fell apart, I pulled out the ribbon and dewed it into another bag. When the ribbon's attached end pulled out of the bag lining, I temporarily attached the ribbon to the inside of the bag by using a safety pin.

Attach your keys to a ribbon inside a handbag or jacket pocket. If you need it to be longer to reach up to a top lock, attach to the end of the ribbon a spiral expanding key 'chain'.

Useful websites
Extendable key ring.
Retractable key ring.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author of
Quick Quotations.
How To Get Out of the mess you're in.
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Finding Lost keys - and Not Losing Keys

Key to hotel room of Spanish parador.

Problem
How do you find your lost keys?

Answers
the best hotels have the key card either in a slot by the door or an old-fashioned key has a hook on the door or wall beside the lock so you can see or feel for the key as you leave.

Bells on shoes work for toddlers. You can attach bells to cows and children and the hotel bedroom doorknob and your wallet or bag or keys.

Stories
I bought bleeps which sound when you shout for your keys. It worked well. But I found the noise was a nuisance. My keys bleeped every time the phone rang all through lunch and my family were so irritated that they confiscated my new toy.

At conference centres where the doors slam locked behind you, I take a lanyard from a previous conference. The door key stays fixed to me. I can find it instantly when I am dashing back to the room for a pen or notebook or camera, and on the last day to pack up and leave.

My mother died after returning from holiday. She had lost her door keys the previous week. I was going though her possessions in her bedroom and checking inside every bag. I checked nine our of ten bags, all empty.

My father said, "Give it up. You won't find anything."

I checked the last bag. A straw summer bag. In the inside zipped pocket were the door keys. She had returned to the UK in March and no longer used the holiday bag. Remember to check suitcases and bags from your last holiday for lost items including keys and passports.

Tips
In hotels without a set place, I leave the bedroom key on the floor by the door so when you rush to get out in the dark you kick the keys and find them.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.