About 10 years ago, shortly after dad passed away and well before I got back into cycling, I desperately needed space in my garage, so I took about half a dozen assorted bikes to the local recycling centre. Most of these bikes were dad's skip finds (shoppers, tatty junior bikes), but one was a bike I'd been given by a family friend who lived in Belgium.
OK, it was a hand-me-down from her great nephew, but since that lad only ever had the best, it was a lovely bike; junior, steel frame but pretty light despite that, quite a relaxed geometry, level top bar, 650 wheels, single speed, flat bars. No idea who made it or what exactly it might have been as the head badge had been removed and the frame painted over in a turquoise enamel that nothing seemed to be able to shift.
Such a nice bike to ride and I really regret getting rid of it to this day, even though I didn't have much of an option at the time.
I now wish I'd kept it over the MTB that I *did* decide to keep.