Parking my car near the shops of the little village in which my parents live, I noticed an elderly lady sitting in her car was staring at me. As I got out, she looked around the car park and waved at me to come over.

"Er... Hi." I said tentatively.

"Do you have a ticket?" she asked.

"Not yet" I said.

She looked around the car park again.

"You can take mine," she whispered "there's still a half an hour left on it." She slipped it into my hand conspiratorially, as though she were dealing crack.

Before I could thank her, she rolled up her window and pulled away, beaming an incredibly cheeky and satisfied grin.