Fitted stabilisers to the young lad next door's bike. I'd tried to persuade his parents (and him) he should adopt the scoot along method to no avail.
Bike had a 3 speed block and the mech was fouling the stabiliser, so it had to go.
Lad's mum brought round a bottle of wine as a thank you, which was nice. I think the rear tyre has a puncture, so I'll fettle that tomorrow.
Oh, and another one. Four weeks ago a friend rang. She was out cycling with a friend of hers, allegedly training for a triathlon. Friend's pedal had fallen off, just south of Tuners Hill, of FNRttC fame. From the description the crank bolt had come out. I was unable to go and fix it, but tried to help over the phone, to no avail.
Anyway...fast forward to today. My friend phoned up. She was going to a barbecue at her friend's. Could I pop round and have a look at the bike. We did so, after helping with the dog (see Where the Wild Things Are).
The crank was indeed separated from the bike. The bolt was found. I produced an allen key from my bag and thirty seconds later the job was done.
How can people not know enough to fix such a simple thing?