"Just My Luck"

What a fucking palarva
It could only happen to me
My left luggage locker won't open
Stuck in a strange country.
Couldn't remember which locker
But it had '40' on the key
There was no-one to help
As far as I could see.
Running round like a headless chicken
As I started to panic
There appeared a beautiful vision
Just as I was about to go manic.
A young Hungarian railway beauty
I wasn't even thinking 'Phwoar!'
But judging by his age I thought
He'd speak English and help me more.
He came round to the lockers
Seeing I was in distress
In truth close to tears of frustration
At getting in such a mess.
Taking my key he tried it
Having no luck at all
Taking his phone out of his pocket
He made that emergency call.
He told them the problem
Help would be half an hour
I was in a right old panic
This trip was going sour.
I had no real money left
And was sure I'd miss my flight
Thought I'd end up like Tom Hanks in 'Terminal'
Sleeping on the airport floor that night.
I had visions of me calling my brother
Pleading for an emergency fare
Otherwise the airport would become my home
A travel Groundhog Day nightmare.
My young knight in shining armour
He left me as I shook his hand
Should've taken his photo...laminated by my bed
But that was the last thing on my mind
I'd make do with a fading memory instead.
Not longer than half an hour
The locker company's man came to do the job
After he'd handed me 'my' bag
He must have thought me a knob!
Turns out my key said forty
And that's the locker he tried
But it wasn't my bag
That was stuck inside.
My key matched the one underneath
With a different number on the door
As if you remember where you dump your bag
I'm sure you know the score.
Now it was the mad dash
Before it was too late
Bypassing a last trip to the supermarket
Before they closed my boarding gate.
I just about managed it
With literally minutes to spare
And I'm chilling out writing poetry
Sat in my Ryanair chair!

Dulwich Poet 2nd November 2017

(Less than three hours before my check-in closes to come home from Budapest Airport, I am stuck at one of the main Budapest train stations, because the key in my left luggage won't work. It's key number 40, which I put in locker 40. Turns out my stuff was in locker 42!)