Door notes
Notes on the doors, gates and locks of Novelda
Short pieces written from the jobs that come up in Novelda: the July romería, stone dust in the yards, flats from the 1960s and 70s, gates at the end of country tracks, period doors in the centre and cars locked just off the A-31.
2 notes
On the wrong side of the door
- 4 min read Keys lost somewhere between San Pedro and the sanctuary
On 20 July the saint goes in procession between the sanctuary of La Mola and San Pedro, some 3 km, after dark and in a crowd. Where keys tend to go, where to ask first, and when to stop searching.
- 3 min read The door shut, and something is still cooking inside
The door clicks shut behind you and the pan is still on. Who to ring first, when 112 comes before a locksmith, and how to describe the door so the right tools arrive.
3 notes
Works and shops
- 4 min read Stone dust, shutters and cylinders that stop turning
Cutting and polishing stone fills a yard with fine dust, and it ends up inside every keyway. Why oil makes it worse, what to use instead, and when a yard lock is past cleaning.
- 4 min read When the saws stop: securing a yard nobody visits for weeks
A stoppage, a sale, a long summer shutdown: when a yard will be empty for weeks, which gates and doors matter most, who should hold keys, and what to check on each visit.
- 4 min read Where the till money spends the night in a small Novelda shop
A deposit safe under the counter, a hidden safe in the back room, or nothing left overnight at all. How a small shop in Novelda can decide, and how the safe should be fixed.
2 notes
Old doors, old locks
- 4 min read Reading the age of the lock on a flat from the marble years
A third of the floor space built in Novelda dates from the 1960s and 70s. How to tell, from the outside, whether your front door still turns on an early cylinder, and which signs mean it should go.
- 4 min read A hundred-year-old door, shut, and the wood worth keeping
Novelda’s centre keeps timber street doors from the years of the Casa Modernista. What holds them shut, how they are opened from outside, and what is worth keeping once one is open.
1 note
Out in the partidas
- 4 min read Chain, padlock or a proper lock for a gate on a country track
A chain and padlock, a padlock alone, or a lock built into the gate: what each does for a house in Novelda’s partidas, and what it means every time you drive in.
1 note
On the road
- 3 min read Halfway between Madrid and the coast, and the car is locked
Driving between Madrid and the coast, you stop near Novelda and the keys stay inside. What to check first, what to say on the phone, and what a hire car changes.
Your door is not in any of these?
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