This thing here is the reason why I spent an hour this morning teetering in an open window 7 metres off the ground, labouring with cordage, wire & crowbar.

It's the top hinge (pintle, really) of one of the shutters on my office window: the pointy end was simply driven into one of the flanking verticals. Years of exposure to the sun had shrunk the wood, so that it had worked loose. We've had high winds for the last couple of days, and at 11 am this morning the shutter suddenly flapped across my window and sagged, resting only on the bottom pintle.

Imagine this thing falling off onto somebody's head. Not to mention the shutter...

All happily removed now, leaving me stretched, strained and sore. It's staying off, too, unless I can find some way of perching in the air outside.