There was a small disaster on the pedalling

front on Friday. 
I had to go back to the show-grounds. We had struck some problems putting the display up - missing items (found) and things that had been wrongly labelled (re-labelled) and not enough space to display things properly (massive re-arrangements necessary).
All that necessitated me prowling back to help. I had not planned on that.
On the way there a small disaster struck. No, not a puncture. (I live in fear of those as my paws are not able to change the inner tubes.)
I went over a bump - and the left hand rear mudguard went "bang, clatter, screech" and then there was an ominous scraping along the tyre wall. I stopped. I investigated.  Oh. There must have been a weak point in one of the stays that  hold the mudguard to the axle. It had snapped. 
I don't get far without my pedals so I straightened it cautiously and, very slowly, pedalled in to the show grounds. 
"What's wrong Cat?" the Convenor of the area asked when I moaned disaster had struck to someone else.
I told her. 
"Oh H will be in later. I'll get him to have a look."
H is her husband. He is one of those practical, sensible, able humans. I knew he would be able to take the mudguard off so I got on with the task ahead of me. We had struck a few more problems - nothing to do with what we had done the day before but were due to the incompetence of someone who had been there before that.
But H turned up in time for the mid-morning cup of tea and said,
"Don't worry. I'll give you and the trike a lift  home if necessary."
I showed him where I had "parked" and went back to work.
About ten minutes later he came in carrying the mudguard.
"It can be fixed - needs a little welding, that's all."
He showed me.
My brother-in-law can do that. He taught himself to weld years ago and is better than many professionals - simply because, as an engineer, he likes things to be "just right". 
"But let me know if there's a problem getting it back on,"H told me, "And I'll come down and fix it for you."
And then he gave me a brief, one armed hug. It was just a warm, friendly gesture and one with which I felt perfectly comfortable . As he did it his wife gave me a discreet "thumbs up".
"I wouldn't have let him do that," someone else said as he went off.
I looked at her and said nothing but I thought it was a sad commentary that she felt it was wrong for someone I know and trust to give me a brief, one armed hug in front of his wife in a public place. It told me something quite different. It told me that he and his wife have a rock steady relationship (and have had for more than forty years) and that they don't mind showing it. 
It also showed me that he cared.