Live and don't learn

So, we've got this old filing cabinet... you know... the kind with the pop-out lock? C'mon, you remember... the sort of thing a thirteen year-old boy apparently can't keep his mucky paws off.

Trouble is, we don't have a key.

So anyway, for whatever reason... Neophyte decides he just has to push on this locking mechanism and see what happens.

Now there's a couple of options here, one of which involves a high-speed steel drill bit and a lot of sweating & cursing. The other option, of course, is Google.

Now, after 10 minutes of research I have everything I need... a bobby-pin pick, a ballpoint pen clip torsion wrench and a half-dozen Youtube lockpicking tutorials. Anyway, I get right to it and amazingly, after 15 minutes and a dozen failed attempts, I am losing faith in the power of the internet.

Neophyte, who has been watching me intently, asks if he can have a go. I shrug my shoulders, hand over what are now undoubtedly, in the eyes of the law, burglary tools... and head upstairs. Sure enough... 10 minutes later, there is a triumphant whoop and he appears, beaming from ear to ear.

Of course, being a thirteen year-old boy... he has to attempt to duplicate his triumph this morning. Apparently though, he has lost his golden touch.

So here we are... back at square one.

**********

UPDATE:

12:20 EST
Publicly shamed by his blogger father and determined to redeem his reputation, Neophyte sits down and reapplies his newfound skillz.

12:21 EST
Another triumphant cry from the room in question. Why do I suddenly feel like a man who has caused a train wreck?

**********

RELATED: The wonderful world of lockpicking

*