Well, I have a lighter with me all the time. I don't smoke, but I'm a pyro. In your situation I would have flamed the freewheel to warm it up until it would engage.

I once flatted twice on my way home with 8 miles to go. I used my spare tube for the first one, then couldn't get a patch to hold air on the second flat. I could have tried patching the punctured tube that came from the first flat, but I was lazy. That time, I called my wife to get me.

I have three bikes, and my wife's is a fourth that I could in theory use if all of mine were down and out, but that only works if the mechanical happens close to home. There's also a really, really torturously slow bus that goes right by my apartment. I don't like using it. If I leave on bike as it passes my apartment, I can beat it downtown (14+ miles).

I've gone through a great deal of trouble to make sure I have everything with me to fix almost any mechanical problem that could possibly manifest itself on my commute, at least enough to limp home:

* Park Tool MTB-3 (my review of it is here)
* Hand pump (for my MTB and hybrid) or CO2, Schrader adapter and lots of extra cartridges (for my Road bike)
* Park Tool glueless patches
* At least one spare tube (sometimes 2) carried with me, and a spare tube both at home and in the office)

I've had to do lots of dinky roadside repairs to my bike and others: rigging up an old-ass mountain bike as a ghetto singlespeed when the rider cratered his rear derailleur and snapped his chain. Pedal, spoke, handlebar and seatpost tightening. Tying off broken spokes. Fixing an over-pulled (slipped) brake cable, adjusting shifter stops, flat tires. I'm ready for almost anything. Almost all of that crap (except the hand pump) fits in a medium-size under-seat bag. The hand-pump sits in my backpack, which i only wear when riding the MTB or hybrid.