As I got out of my car this morning and walked across the car park to the office, it occurred to me that I hadn’t locked the car. The thought floated across my mind and I dismissed it, it really wasn’t necessary to go back.
As someone moving from UK city centre living to the Falklands I brought with me, my habits of locking everything all the time and checking carefully and repeatedly that I had locked my house or car. I know that I still lock my house and car much more frequently than local residents and I sub-consciously expect others to do the same, until I remember that they don’t. Last weekend I stood patiently at the door of a friend´s car, which we’d returned to after a two hour walk, waiting for her to unlock it and let me in. Then it occurred to me that of course it wasn’t locked and I opened the door and got in.
Early on in my time here I was returning something to a friend and when I got to his house he wasn’t in. He’d told me that might be the case and had said just go in and leave it on the side in the kitchen. Of course I knocked on the outside door and waited, although there were no lights on and it was pretty clear he was out. Then feeling like a burglar I opened the door, let myself in and opened the kitchen door to leave the item on the counter. It felt deeply wrong and I really had to force myself to do it.
I’m still not able to intentionally leave my house unlocked when I go out but there are definitely signs of change. I clearly do not check comprehensively that the doors to the outside are locked when I think they should be (at night and when I go out). The other day I found to my vague surprise that the seaward door (officially always the front door in Stanley) was unlocked. I had no idea when I had last used it and not locked it, it could have been days previously. I found it interesting that my response was limited, I did not immediately feel unsafe and have to repetitively check everything was locked several times each night before I went to bed. I mentally shrugged, locked the door and went on with my unruffled day.
I’m not sure that I will ever start leaving my house and car unlocked all the time, which some do. Even in a place with a very low crime rate, where robbery is almost unheard of, insurers still frown on claims where houses/cars are unlocked at the time of the crime. Occasionally one hears via the court reports of cars being “borrowed” late at night, when the pubs have closed, so best not to leave your car unlocked in Stanley central at the weekends. Depending on your friends, you might need to lock your house when you are on your own and having a shower, or you might emerge clean and shiny, as of a friend of mine did, to find that other friends had been in and borrowed her dining chairs while she was otherwise occupied!
I suspect the longer I am here the more relaxed I will be about locks, how far along the spectrum will I be when I leave?
Where is Sarah? 
Not locking doors, or cars, is still a relatively common thing on island communities with fairly small populations. Everyone knows (almost) everyone and the island society needs a cooperative spirit where everyone pulls together in order to survive.
In the UK, it’s still common on the Isles of Scilly and on the Outer Hebrides. On Scilly, bikes are generally not locked – though sometimes they are ‘borrowed’ for folk to get home for the pub. Cars, too, are not always locked – where could you take a stolen car on a small island? And, staying on Scilly last year, the instructions for the rented property were simply ‘the key will be in the door or inside on the table’.
Long may it continue!
LikeLiked by 1 person