Every year on 20 July the image of Santa María Magdalena makes the journey between her sanctuary on the hill of La Mola and the church of San Pedro in the centre, with a long trail of people on foot behind. The fiestas run from the 19th to the 25th, with the Moros y Cristianos parades on top. It is a lovely week. It is also a week of light clothes, shallow pockets, crowds and late nights, and that is when keys slip away.
Where keys usually turn up
Think back along the evening rather than along the route. Most keys are not lost walking; they are lost when something else comes out of the same pocket.
- Where you sat down or stopped to eat or drink. Ring the bar or the house you were at before you do anything else.
- Where you took out your phone for a photo of the procession. Keys on the same ring as nothing else fall without a sound.
- The car, if you drove part of the way. Look in the footwells and between the seats.
- The pocket of whoever you were with. It happens more than anyone likes to admit.
Keys found in the street are often handed in rather than kept, so it is worth asking at the town hall and the Policía Local in the days after the fiestas.
When to stop looking and ring
If it is late, you are tired and nobody else has a key, stop. Searching a 3 km route in the dark rarely finds a single bunch of keys, and nothing is lost by having the door opened and carrying on looking in daylight.
Before you ring, check the obvious things: a back door or a window that was left on the latch, a neighbour or relative who keeps a key, the landlord if you rent. Then call, and say where you are and what kind of door it is. If it was only pulled shut, not locked with the key, it is usually opened through the latch, without damage. How each kind of door is dealt with is explained in the note on period doors in the centre, for the houses round San Pedro, and the urgent side of it on the emergency page.
Do you need a new cylinder?
It depends on what was on the ring.
- Just keys, no tag, no address: whoever finds them has no idea which door they open. Many people simply have the door opened and wait to see whether the keys turn up.
- A tag with your name or address, a car fob with the number plate, or post in the same bag: change the cylinder once you are inside. It can be done on the same visit or booked for a day that suits.
If something is waiting inside
A pan on the stove, a pet, a child with a sitter who has gone home: say so at the start of the call. And if there is any smoke, or anyone at risk inside, ring 112 first. There is a separate note on what to do when the door shuts with something cooking.