between two neighbours in a genteel and leafy part of Ealing. Their mutual loathing was no secret in the area and there had always been feuding over the exact position of the dustbins, the positioning of cars when parked and endless problems over noise and boundary walls. The relative tranquillity was shattered in spring when the crocuses came up. They had been planted in formation to read: 'We hate the Bartletts'.
Following a blazing row over a skateboard which ended years of friendship, a woman plotted revenge against the couple next door. For nearly two years she bombarded them with junk mail, sending off forms from newspapers and magazines filled in with their names, and blitzing them with mail order catalogues, booklets, information on double glazing, conservatories, book clubs and music clubs. Salesmen plagued them day and night, representatives arrived on their doorstep and a steady stream of goods had to be sent back. The final straw came when the victims found that they were being blacklisted as time-wasters and bad debtors by credit companies.
The Rt Hon the Lord Stafford became upset when Beech Caves, at his home in Staffordshire, were continually being used for rave parties. In order to stop them he had fourteen tons of pig slurry dumped in the mouth of the cave. The ravers had the last laugh - what he hadn't realised was that the cave was directly upwind of his mother's house. She had a large houseparty at the time and was distinctly unamused.
In Natick, Massachusetts, outside Boston, two neighbours had settled into a regular and lifelong feud. They deliberately upset each other and things finally came to a head. The wife in the yellow house went to answer the doorbell one day and was nearly shocked to death to find an undertaker, who had come, he said, to collect the body of her husband whom she had believed to be alive and well - and at work. She genuinely believed he must have been killed on his way to the office.
Some time after this nasty event their neighbours received an entire truckload of wet cement on their doorstep. Unfortunately it had dried before they discovered it.
A good Christian was always picking fights with his Jewish neighbour so, in retaliation against the gentile, the Jew sent him a card at Easter saying: 'I'm sorry we killed your God.'
Deep in East Sussex two neighbours lived in peace and friendship... until the dog at 24 ate the rabbit at 26. It was four years before the neighbours spoke to each other again.
Came the time of number 26's daughter's sixteenth birthday and the people at number 24 bought her a huge box of chocolates - she was a chubby little thing and renowned for her sweet tooth. Theywere having drinks
together, and the 24s handed over their present with a few well-chosen words about how glad they were that they were all friends again. The birthday girl opened her present and, to their horror, they saw it was a box of chocolate bunnies. They truly had not realised when they bought it.
They had to move house two months later because relations became so bad.
Road Hogs
'He meditates revenge who least complains.'
John Dryden, 1631-1700
Road Hogs
The blonde was clearly wearing nothing under her fine silk shirt and Susie's fiancé could not take his eyes off her. Throughout dinner in the top London restaurant Caviar Kaspia, Susie had a lovely view of his back as he talked animatedly to the blonde and shared endless vodkas. Later, in Annabel's, he danced and laughed with her for hours. Susie ordered a bottle of the most expensive champagne on the wine list and put it on his bill, but even that did not bring him back down to earth - he continued to flirt and ignore her totally. As she sat at the table, Susie plotted how to get her own back.
When it finally came to their departure, she smiled sweetly at him and said she'd had rather a lot to drink -would he mind driving home? She knew he had had far