Caught in the nick of time

My nightmare began when my partner and I were asked to prepare an evening buffet for a woman and her party.

We were given a key to her house so we could set up the meal for their return. After being instructed on how to turn off the burglar alarm, we duly arrived with the food one wet and blustery evening.

The trouble started as soon as I opened the front door. I tripped over the wedding presents left in the hall and, in the panic, opened the wrong door, setting off the alarm. Eventually, I found the correct door and switched it off.

We then had to walk through the house so we could use the fridge in the garage and unload. But, as we were doing this, the yard gate blew shut, leaving the front door keys in the house and us locked out.

Using a set of ladders stored in the garage I decided to climb up the yard wall to get back in. Just as I was astride the wall, however, a police car screamed into the drive. Out jumped two policemen shouting: "You're nicked!".

Humbly we explained that we were two caterers who had set the alarm off and locked ourselves out. Fortunately they believed us and re-opened the door.

To our embarrassment we had to explain to our client what had happened - and became the topic of conversation throughout the evening.