photo credit: Clar@bell

If you live in a period building that has the traditional type sash window fitted you will no doubt want to fit some sort of lock to them. A window is one of a burglars favourite points of entry so locks on your windows should be considered mandatory. The traditional sash window bolt is very secure, but doesn’t allow you to part open the window whilst still  having it locked. If your bedroom window is a sash type you will probably want to have it open at night, whilst maintaining security. The sort of lock you need for this is the sliding window lock stop. The stop is positioned above the lower sash, how high you position the stop will determine how much you can open the window

photo credit: PharCyder

With the number of different doors available on the market, you would be forgiven by thinking that there is also a great number of different door locks available. The truth is that this simply isn’t true. Door lock technology hasn’t really moved on much at all in the past 50 years. Perhaps the most notable exception to this is that of the multi-point lock available on the newer uPVC type doors. These types of lock shoot multiple bolts in to the frames at different points and consequently give you one of the securest doors on the market. If you live in an area where you don’t sleep to well at night you may well be advised to invest in a whole new door and not just a new front door lock.

All of my best travel stories have one thing in common. Me being completely out of my element in a country I know little to nothing about where the language they speak might as well be Martian for all I know. There’s nothing quite like being surrounded by a sea of perceived chaos and having to force yourself to lay back, relax and go with the flow. I’ll never forget wandering into a random cheese shop in the middle of Nowhere-in-particular, France and spending the next half hour trying to act out in a complicated display of charades exactly how much of which kind of cheese I’d like to buy. Especially complicated since how much of which kind was basically a completely arbitrary decision on my part since I knew absolutely nothing about what types of cheeses these might be or what they would taste like when I finally managed to get them out of the store and onto the dry baguette that was intended to serve as my lunch that afternoon. Eventually, however, I walked out with a smile on my face a spring in my step and stinky cheese on my baguette all the happier for having had the unusual experience.