General

The History of uPVC Windows

After the 76 weeks of January, it seems as if February may finally be in view. If you look closely, that is. And those 2 sentences contain not-so-subtle clues to the subject of today’s blog. Notably the phrases “in view” and “look closely”. Where can you look closely at a view? Why, through a window, of course. And there we have it, the new most convoluted segue of the year so far. 

So in a departure from locks, doors and other security issues, today we’ll have a brief look at the recent history of a particular type of window. I can sense you are all agog, impatiently waiting to discover which particular type of window the next 800 words or so will cover. I will keep you on tenterhooks no longer – it will be the uPVC variety. Bad luck to those of you who had Windows 95 or Windows XP in the sweepstake, maybe next time.

Locksmith Resolutions For 2020

As we say farewell to 2019 and welcome in 2020 it’s worth taking a second to calmly reflect on the passing of time. Before shrieking “TWENTY TWENTY!? How the blazes did we get here? It was only 1987 a few minutes ago.. make it stop. MAKE IT STOP, no, don’t lock me up again…” and then escaping into the woods, a blubbering mess. But maybe that’s just me.

Now that we’re further ahead than the original Blade Runner was set, and far beyond how far they travelled to in Back to the Future, science fiction would have us believe that we should all be jetting around on flying skateboards with our android-human hybrid pals. We may have to accept we face a touch of disappointment on that score but hey, at least we have the ability to play Candy Crush no matter where we are in the world. 

As any opportunist gravy thief knows, the turn of the year is an excellent time to take stock. And also to look forward to the year ahead, perhaps making a resolution or two. Resolutions are always a tricky beast – make them too difficult like resolving to solve climate change in 2020 and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. But going the other way and making them too easy, like resolving to eat a tube of fruit pastilles per day, and where’s the challenge in that? 

So if you’re struggling to strike the right balance with your resolutions, fear not, for I am here to provide some suggestions. And whilst you might suspect they’ll all be around the subject of making your house more secure, I’m going to surprise you and say they’re not. Nah, only kidding, they are really. But they ARE useful, so here we go. 

Where Do Burglars Look In The House

Now I don’t normally have much time for burglars. To be honest, as a locksmith, they are my nemesis. The Lex Luther to my Superman, the Riddler to my Joker, the Donald Trump to my reasonable human being. As such, I don’t tend to pay much heed of what they say. 

However, for every rule there is an exception. And that exception was a recent report I came across, commissioned by John Lewis insurance. This report, carried out in conjunction with an offender rehabilitation agency, interviewed a number of reformed offenders for the purpose of finding out the behaviour pattern of burglars, most notably the places they would target when breaking into a property.  This then informed the recommendations of the report when it came to the best places for householders to keep their valuables to help protect them.

Rotherham Locksmith Spring Security Advice

Well, hello there and a belated happy 2019 to you. I’d like to say I’d been doing something exciting, and that’s the reason for my brief absence from these pages but that would be a lie. Work, winter and life took over for the last two and a half months. But now spring is on the horizon and with it come all sort of, well… springy arrivals like warmer weather, new-born lambs, and…err… new things to look out for when it comes to home security. Much as I’m all across the subject of birthing lambs, it’s more the latter subject that I’ll be concerned about today – a look at how to keep safe as the warmer weather arrives.

Know The Difference With Your Cylinder Locks

You’re probably seen the John Lewis advert by now and, even if not, you can’t have escaped at least knowing about it. It features Elton John and travels back in time to see how all his success can, at least in part, be traced back to when he was given a gift of a piano as a child. Now you may not know, but this wasn’t the first draft of this advert because originally it was an advert created by myself, and this is how it unfolded.

Why you choose a local Rotherham locksmith

One of my favourite British films is the 1983 comedy drama, Local Hero, directed by Bill Forsyth. If you haven’t seen it, I can tell you that it’s delightfully charming, and depicts the conflict between a local community in a small Scottish village, and a major international oil company who want to buy up land for a refinery. It stars Burt Lancaster and Peter Capaldi, amongst others, and the soundtrack was written by Mark Knopfler – the main theme is used by Newcastle United at every home game when the teams run out onto the pitch. 

I was watching the film again recently and it got me thinking about the representation of the clash between local and international and how it relates to my own work. Now, shocking as it may seem, I’m not Burt Lancaster, so I’m firmly in the “local” category rather than the national or international conglomerate. However, I’m in an industry which encompasses both the local and the national. This can be illustrated through a simple web search for locksmiths. The results will include a mix of local and national results to choose from. Often the national firms will appear in the sponsored results because their marketing budgets are so much bigger. But which to choose? 

Looking for shed, garden and garage security advice

Right, I don’t want to get too controversial but blimey Charlie, it hasn’t half been hot this week. Was it really only a couple of months ago we were having late winter snow, or did I dream that? Looking at the forecast, it seems there won’t be any let up in the hot weather for at least the next week, so I guess we’d better just accept it and enjoy it/cope with it the best we can. Although if you could kindly refrain from going around the supermarket without your tops on, I’d be every so grateful. And the same goes for the men, too. 

Locksmith advice for preventing being locked out

I think we can safely say summer is here. The evidence is overwhelming: we’ve had at least 4 days of sunshine, oddly coinciding with the May bank holidays which was a most bewildering phenomenon, and now with thunderstorms on the horizon and a couple of England batting collapses already behind us in the cricket, it looks like we’re settled in for a typically British summer. 

A thief's way of thinking!

Well hello there. It’s Fingers McGhee here, your friendly neighbourhood burglar. The locksmith chap has been kind enough to let me have a guest blog this month. He may live to regret this as I feel he’s had it his own way for too long. I’m not happy about the way he’s been passing on tips on how to help secure your homes and properties. So to help balance things, I’ll be listing my own tips today on how you can make my life just that bit easier. You know it makes sense after all. 

Going on holiday? A bit of security advice

Blimey Charlie, that was a bit of a week with the snow then wasn’t it? I trust we all survived the wintry weather, our locks are all unfrozen, and that we are now looking forward to a bit of sunshine, come the Spring. And in the spirit of looking forward to the warmer weather, today I’ll look ahead to the holiday season. Yes, summer is still a fair way away, but Easter is just around the corner which means many people will be going away on holiday. And as we know, this causes issues when it comes to our home security. 

One of the best defences against burglaries is our very presence. You can have all the locks, gadgets and booby traps you want, but an unoccupied house is always going to be a more tempting prospect for a criminal than one where people are living and able to defend their property or raise the alarm. As such, when you go away for any period on time, it’s even more important to do all you can to ensure your home is protected in your absence. I’ll list a few steps you can take below so that if you’re away to warmer climes this Easter, you can ensure you’ve left your house as safe as possible.