The lost car key: Episode 2

The tale of the lost car key, started at reference 1, can be quickly concluded. We went to the branch of  Timpson's just to the side of the main entrance to Sainsbury's at Kiln Lane. Not the place snapped above, but near enough.

Yes, said Mr. Timpson, yes I can make you up a new fob key. Not identical to the one from Ford, but near enough. And he appeared to have various electrical and computing gadgetry on the bench in the corner with which to do the business. All he seemed to need was my old style key to work from. Nothing was said about log books or driving licenses.

You come back in half an hour and I'll be done.

So I went off to get a newspaper - a Guardian - downstairs and then we went up to Fresh Kitchen upstairs. A large airy place with plenty of space and a long counter selling a range of snacks - including, I believe - hot snacks and light meals at appropriate times of day. We settled for tea, to which I added a couple of sweet scones, that is to say scones with dried fruit in them rather than the cheese we use at home; the sort of thing snapped at reference 2. The tea was a bit powerful, the power tea-bags favoured by some cafés, but the scones were quite good. Fresh and light. I dare say there was plenty of sugar too.

Our half hour done, down to Timpson's, where the new key was ready to go. I gave it a quick test, thanked Mr. Timpson and off we went.

Job done in less time than it took the Ford Service Centre to book us into their system. The wonders of big companies with a big bureaucracy to feed. And for less than half the price.

PS 1: the old style key works both the door locking and the engine starting, while the key part of the new style key works like the old style key, with the fob part being programmed to work the door locking by pressing buttons. Am I right to deduce that the same code underlies both door locking and engine starting? And that the cut of my old style key can be translated into numbers, or maybe a string of bits, and these bits can then be used to program the new style, fob key. The key might look like an analogue device, but really it is a digital device. Sadly, I never got to find out whether Ford would have managed without an old style key to work from, or whether they had the digits on file somewhere. So there might have been a value add for doubling the price. Or have I got it all wrong, and Mr. Timpson actually had some kind of X-ray machine which could read the lock in the door without taking it apart?

PS 2: we continue to wonder about the economics of Fresh Kitchen. It is a big place and it has not been busy on the few occasions when we have been there. Do the staff use the place as a canteen during their breaks? Does that make up numbers?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-lost-car-key-episode-1.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/patisserie.html.