Once, when I was at university or at school (or some point in my life where responsibility was someone else's, well, responsibility), I had a conversation with a bunch of friends about where the most fun place to be stranded would be. I chose a Alton Towers, or Thorpe Park.
Yesterday a couple of friends/ colleagues and I went to Thorpe Park.
We'd already gotten off to a shaky start in the morning: Elles had accidentally slept in after a busy few days (to be woken up by Kat who was meeting her at her house). The fourth person who was originally going with us cancelled last minute, which threw our budgeting plans off a little (no-one ever goes to Thorpe Park or Alton Towers without a 2 for 1 deal handy). The parking metre in the car park I was using would only start working at a certain time of day, so even though I was organised and got there early I had to sit in my car and wait until the coin slot in the machine opened before I could go anywhere. Once we all got into Elles' car though, it seemed that it was plane sailing from then on.
As we got out of the car and made out way through the entrance of Thorpe Park, we joked about how we felt like kids again. "Make sure you stay with the group and hold someone's hand," teased Kat as I bounced around excitedly. We all made sure we knew where our valuables were, we had waterproof jackets for the water rides, and we felt pretty much sorted.
We put a couple of things in the lockers, and off we went. The first ride we went on was Colossus. The second one was X. As we got to the cloakroom area of X, Elles took her jacket off since it was getting a bit warm, and gave it in. At the end of the ride, we collected all our stuff and emerged to decide which rollercoaster to go on next.
Suddenly Elles stopped dead.
"Guys, where's all my change gone?"
There were five pound coins in her jacket when we entered the park- now they were all gone. Elles patted herself down to try and find the change, worrying that she'd been pick-pocketed... and she suddenly realised her car key had gone, too.
None of us live anywhere near Thorpe Park. Worst of all was that all of poor Elles' stuff- the rest of her money, her house keys, her bag- was all locked up in her car.
We felt cold: what could have happened? Both of Elles' pockets were zipped shut. Could one of the guys working the cloakrooms have taken it as a prank? One of them was a bit cheeky to Elles when she took her coat off, but it was very unlikely that a member of staff could have taken it- and bizarrely, her phone was still in the pocket. Could the key have fallen out on a ride? But both of the pockets were closed. It seemed most likely to us that the keys had gone missing around the time we were at X, since that was the only time the jacket had been moved.
After retracing our steps as thoroughly as we could (while trying to be grateful that we'd only been on two rides before we discovered the loss), We went to customer services and filled out a form, and handed it to a guy who gave off an air of seeing this sort of stuff happening all the time, and probably thinking what a brainless bunch of girls we were. We were then told that we had to wait until the evening when the park closed before a search could be carried out. If the keys didn't turn up, the car would have to be left overnight and we'd have to find our own ways home. In the meantime, there was nothing we could do- except have as much fun as possible. So, since we were stuck there for the whole day until closing time, this is exactly what we did.
When closing time came, we went back to Customer Services. Nothing had been handed in, and we were advised to ask the attendants at the rides themselves. We went to X first, almost certain that this was the place to find the keys- but despite the lovely staff looking high and low, there was nothing.
The only alternative thing that could have happened, then, was that the car key- along with the now-forgotten change- must have worked its way out of a gap in Elles' zipped-up pocket whilst we zooming around on Colossus. Which meant that it could have been flung absolutely anywhere. We asked the staff there anyway- who were also amazing- and they set out to do a sweep under the ride for us. In the meantime, we looked around the public footpath leading to the ride.
Between the three of us, Kat, Elles and I found all manner of lost items that had fallen afoul of the ride- lip balm, eyeliner, a badge, even glasses- but no keys. Resigned to having to fork out for a cab home, we made our way back to the entrance of the ride, where we were met by some people on the team who had finished their side of the search. No-one had found anything- and we hadn't expected them to, either. Then we heard a voice from behind us.
"You lost BMW keys, right?"
The other half of the team had come back from their sweep. One of the guys held aloft a single car key: Elles' car key.
There was a lot of squealing, jumping and hugging, and Elles even kissed her key. The key had quite literally been found amongst the bushes under the ride: so it had fallen out of the jacket, after all. In the end, we got to go home by car, everybody got their stuff back, and all was well.
You could say that the moral of the story is to be careful with your possessions- but then again we were, and Elles had actually double-checked that her pockets were zipped up. I reckon the real moral of the story here is that zips are fickle buggers and you should never trust them.
Oh, and about Thorpe Park being the most fun place to be stuck at? I was right.
~Fin~
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