Mobile locksmith in Amsterdam

Customers Stories
locksmith work in kings day

Mobile locksmith survival in Amsterdam

As you all probably already know, we are the 24/7 mobile locksmith service of Amsterdam. That is a bit of a conflict between our service and reality. How do you actually mobile yourself in Amsterdam? Bicycles, water, bridges, frost, parking, traffic, rain, fog, bicycles and bicycles. So how does that work? Not easy. As the nature of our locksmith work is fast response, we have to drive and get around this beautiful old city of Amsterdam for a living. We drive and park as close as possible to the client in a city where parking is rare. And yes, the bicycles. Not an easy task. And last evening I felt it all when having a call out to the Jordaan, one of the oldest and driver’s unfriendly area of Amsterdam. This is how it went..

Mobile locksmith in Amsterdam?!

Now?

5pm on a November cold evening. Amsterdam is sliding into winder and its cold and dark early. The sun will not come out before 8am and people leave and go to work daily in pitch black mornings. So I was sitting in our warm office doing important stuff on my phone. Right. Its was raining on and off the whole day and the wind was blowing, whistling around the narrow streets. I looked out of the window. Darkness, wetness and miserableness all around. I’ll make myself some warm tea, I was thinking. When the phone rang. No no no… “Hello locksmiths” I picked up the phone with tears in my eyes. “Hi. We got locked out in the Single. Could you send someone? How long before you can get here? We are pretty wet”. A job came in. “No problem. We will be on our way soon.” I answered. “Please hurry up”. And I was up and running. 

On my way!

I grubbed my coat and car keys. Opened the door and the gates of weather hell hit me straight in the face. Dry leafs were flying all around in the dark, banging on windows and pilling on roofs. The air was wet and sharp. Crisp to the touch. I stepped into it and started walking as fast as possible to my car. My coat zipped to my eye balls, not helping me avoiding puddles on the slippery road tiles. And then the rain decided to visit. When I jumped in my car I was already soaked to my bones. The rain was heavy and dropped hard. My car window were covered in steamy fog from my breath. Nice! I was thinking as I was cursing and starting my car. Almost hit my first cyclist of the evening when rushed out the carpark, and was on my way! 

Amsterdam streets are so romantic 

Looking at the map, everything was red. Packed roads and streets in the evening rush hour. Everybody on their way home from work in this terrible weather. I was soaked. 35 minutes away from the target. We aim for 30 minutes response, but in Amsterdam its not always easy. I was trying my best to look over my fog window when almost hit another cyclist that flew past me swearing. The almost second cyclist for the evening. I was coming near the Jordaan passing the first bridge over the water. Roadworks made this almost impossible and painfully slow. It seems to me sometimes, that they are rebuilding Amsterdam from the ground up. Stone by stone. Traffic was heavy and the rain kept on falling heavy and fast. I was crawling in the Jordaan’s narrow twisty streets slower than a walking pigeon. As I was avowing hitting another cyclist, the client text came in. “How far are you please?” Stressing me out. I do my job with love and care for my clients but I can not control my stress when a client is waiting and I am stuck somewhere on my way. Checked the map; 14 minutes away. Awesome! Texted my client my location as the streets cleared a little giving me way to progress. Almost there!

Arrived!

Google maps announced, you are at your destination. No parking at site. Nothing. In the Jordaan driving on means you could never ever come back where you passed. Or maybe it just feels that way. Yes! I was lucky enough to find parking not  so far from the house. 5 minutes walk in the craziest European weather ever. Not far but far enough. Parked the car as a cyclist seemed to jump over my car’s roof avoiding a certain hit. I was out in the pouring rain getting my tools out of my car into a huge pool of cold black water puddle. I was silently cursing the day I was born as I paid 7.5 euros per hour for parking. I could feel the rain water dripping down my back as I was walking towards the client as dutch cyclists were passing me like batts escaping hell, splashing water everywhere. This Holland this place, water everywhere! I could see my client waving me at the distance as he saw that wet man walking up the street carrying tool boxes. I stepped it up and got to him as quick as I could. He was pretty dry, sitting in the coffee place across the road from his house, zipping warm capuchin as he waited. I was not. “Its this hose!” He pointed to an old Amsterdam building with a shiny black door. “I just need to get into that door.” He explained. I looked at that door in the heavy rain of the now, night. There were no cover or any roof to protect you from the rain. Typical Dutch. Work is work is work. Wet or not, I got straight to it..

Such in Amsterdam

Tags :
Share This :

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *