I have for months been super annoyed at my handbrake… When I got the car a few 7 years ago the handbrake was functional, but not brilliant, and it slowly started getting worse and worse, and in the end it was only braking on the rear left wheel, so I have been checking brakes, discs and everything around the wheel, and even went well through the cables but could find nothing wrong… Now when I had my dashboard out I decided to have a good look at the handbrake inside the car while I was there, and to my big surprise this is what greeted me down there 
No wonder it felt strange 
but it is well and truly fixed now, and it is working like the first day again 