On Sun, 31 Dec 2017 10:01:02 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

T i m wrote:

When the LT lead broke off the capacitor on my moped, I used a
screwdriver though the hole in the flywheel to scratch a slot in the
solder and then the screwdriver and a brick to peen the solder back
over the wire and rode home.

There was an occasion, whilst plodding along the East Lancs Road
on my Honda 50, when the slightly oscillating engine sound that I
now know to be the sign of a worn/ stretched chain was followed
by the noise of the chain wrapping itself around the sprocket.

;-(

I hitched into Warrington, bought a new chain and chain wheel (no
sprocket in stock), removed flash from the sprocket using the
kerbstone, and continued on my journey.

Very 'stone age'. ;-)

I showed daughter how to knap flint and just how sharp the result
could be.

When the clutch cable snapped on my Sierra whilst out with the family
one day, I got the spare out from the boot and with my Leatherman
pocket tool, replaced it at the side of the road and continued with my
day.

When my Volvo 240 suddenly failed to close the throttle when I
lifted off, I spotted the failed carburetor spring, improvised
with a bit of elastic, which was fine for the rest of the trip.

And that's the thing ... some of us would look, would try to see what
was wrong and try to work out something to allow us to get home
(stories of strings connected to the throttle linkage and brought back
into the cabin etc).

We pulled into a side road and saw someone half up on the verge with a
spare wheel beside his car. It was obvious he had a puncture but
wasn't obvious why he wasn't changing the wheel. We offered to help be
he said he had called the AA ... shrug

We generally get a large discount off our AA renewal *because* we only
call them out in an emergency, not because we are too lazy to change a
wheel [1], run out of fuel or not fix the fixable.

Cheers, T i m

[1] I have driven out to the Mrs to change a wheel when she damaged
the sidewall on the car (again, trying to avoid someone who should
have given her right of way) because it was easier and likely quicker
for me to do it than her wait for the AA.