Bicycle reparing

I passed our bicycle shop a few days ago to fix my brakes. The rear one was totally gone! When I used it was only a scratching sound - metal against metal. Luckily our happy guy worked this day! He gladly helped me, of course with out charging for his work, only or the new break rubbers. I used the occasion to change the position of the front and rear brake as well. Here in China they have the front break on the right side and the rear on the left side - the opposite from Sweden. There have been some situations I almost crashed because I used the front break instead of the rear one. Not good... But now I'm a happy biker again. Full tires and functioning brakes! I just love to be able to take the bike to work - that's actually luxury in this size of city. Sitting in a taxi or take the bus every day would kill me. Some of our colleagues have two hours one way to work!