I know there's competition for parking on many of our streets but we deal with it as best we can and get on with life. But here's what happens when someone can't accept things as they are and takes matters into their own hands. To explain. Last summer, I had an altercation with a neighbour living across the street from me who, after I had moved my car to 'my' side of the street and outside my house, came over to ask me why 'in the interests of good neighbourliness' I didn't park it on my driveway. Now disregarding for a moment the fact that I have as much right to park on the street as he has (with his three cars incidentally; an Audi RS6?, a Defender and an Astra), I pointed out that my car was too wide and long to maneuver safely in and out with cars parked opposite my narrow driveway's entrance. Even my signficant other has this problem parking her Hyundai i10 on our driveway! After shouting a few expletives at me, he stormed off unimpressed. We haven't spoken since then, just glowered at each other from time to time! Six months later, after leaving my car on 'his' side of the road for a few days (nothing unusual, the space outside my house is often occupied and I don't complain), I came back to find this keying damage to my Rover's bonnet!
Now I have no way of proving that this wanton vandalism was his doing, although the car was parked on 'his' side of the street and the damage is on the side facing the pavement. It's also highly unlikely that this was done by some passerby. A) we live on a cul-de-sac and B) a mindless vandal would not have picked out just my car and left such a deliberately malevolent signature! So I have reported the damage to the police indicating my suspicions and put a note through all the doors on the street (including his), advising everyone about this unfortunate escalation and suggesting more vigilence where possible. Everyone on the street I've spoken to so far (people came to talk to me about it) have been angry and sympathetic. Needless to say, 'he' has been conspicuous by his absence. So, now I'm faced with a bill for repair that I'm minded to shove through his letterbox, little good it would do though!
