It is very special to me because I likely wouldn't be here without it.
I'm fairly sure that this lock was originally intended to be something that you would clip onto something like your school bag but being autistic, I played with it like it was a real padlock, often clipping it onto clothes hangers and door handles.
Another thing I would do is loop some clothes hangers around the handles of a double door closet and have my sister sit inside as if it was a jail cell.
One time, I looped the hangers and clipped the lock on but didn't let my sister out because I got upset at something. When my mum found out, she confiscated the lock so I wouldn't lock up my sister again.
A few years later, I got the lock back after finding where it was hidden and it just sat around but was still played with every now and then.
Fast forward to 2015, the year I decided to ditch the original grey and yellow colour scheme so I could make the lock look more realistic by painting the body with a metallic gold paint marker so it resembled a brass padlock. I also decided to paint the shackle black because I had no silver paint marker.
About 2 years later we decided to revamp the backyard by building an in ground swimming pool. After the pool was completed, I installed a string of fairy lights along the fence and a pop up shelter that was used as temporary shade. When putting the lights on the shelter, I needed something to hold the string in place and decided to use the KFC padlock because it was the first thing I found that could clip two items together.
When the shelter was taken down, I thought that the lock had been thrown out but it was hiding in with the pool toys for a few years. I finally found it in 2023 while getting out an inflatable pool toy and breathed a huge sigh of relief when I found it safe.
It has now joined the 108CAM Lock Squad and will always have a special place in my heart.
Who would've thought that a KFC toy could turn me into a fanatic for locks, locksport and start my dream of becoming a Locksmith.
And no, I still haven't figured out what the 2 things on the bottom are supposed to be.
(Yes KFC used to put toys in their kids meals, at least in Australia.)
