here and now i cast off lanyards forever. i liked them because i could simply hang my keys around my neck and leave my hands free, without having to grope around in bags and pockets to unlock doors. and they kept me from putting my keys down and forgetting them, which i am most apt to. and when i was not wearing my keys i could wrap it around my purse or loop it onto a bag handle. but today as i was putting a large box down on the floor the keys caught in a gap in the box and as i straightened up i felt a tremendous jerk on my neck and then the clink of metal and found myself with only one key hanging on the lanyard. we struggle into the lift (a very nice european man held the lift while i fumbled with boxes and when i apologised and asked him to go up first he said "take your time, i'm not american." as i stumble along the passageway to my apartment the other key fell off the lanyard too, into the box in my arms (a different box.) when we arrive at my door and opened up the first box the two keys that had fallen the first time were not in it. perhaps they didn't fall into the box but onto the ground, suggested von. so we went back downstairs where i first heard the clink, but the key had evidently melted away. von was going to be late for a dinner party, so he gave me the university police number to call and drove off. i did, however, find the mailroom key in the corridor as i went back up again. and when retrieved and examination, the key that fell into the second box turned out to be my apartment key and not the lobby key, so i let myself in. i now have lobby access with my id, and i did recover the mailroom key, so it isn't as bad as it could have been, but i should still let housing know about the lost key. i just hope i won't have to pay for the entire building to have new keys for the new lock. there are 40 apartments in here i can't possibly manage it.