Here's the key - but I'll not be giving it to you

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On Sunday we are catching the train to Perth, capital of Western Australia. Later that evening we wlll catch a plane to firstly Dubai (11 hours) then, after a 2-hour stopover, we fly on to Dublin, Ireland (another 8 hours) where our son will meet us. We first took our son to Ireland in 1998. We missed a connecting train in Dublin and were forced to look for an hotel for the night. We found prices very expensive as our Aussie dollar wasn’t going far at the time. We eventually chose an hotel and Vince asked the price. It was very costly and Vince said he was sure it was a fair price but it was a bit more than our budget allowed for. The publican said, in his beautiful brogue, ‘And what would your budget be saying, Mr Evans?’ Vince thought hurriedly, suggested a figure and the publican said ‘Well, that’s what the tariff will be, then’. Such a kind young man and just the first of many we ran into. He went off for the keys and soon returned. He gave Vince the keys for our room then held out the key for our son’s room but said ‘And this will be the key to your room Damian but I’ll not be giving it to you because it doesn’t open the door’. What he meant was that the lock was broken but it seemed such a funny thing to say. We went on to have a lovely holiday and even had a few days on a canal boat going through various locks before reaching the Shannon River. We left Damian in Ireland and he has lived there ever since, apart from a few visits back to Australia. It will be good to see him. The photo shows a view from our canal boat.