My Very Nice Young Husband and I live on the top floor of a lovely old house in a quiet neighborhood near campus (we're grad students). It's on a tiny private lane that's shaped like a T: the stem of the T connects us to the main road, and the houses are all along the top of the cross-bar of the T. Both ends of the cross-bar are dead-ends.

It's a private lane, so each homeowner owns the street in front of the house. Houses in the middle have an easement (gotta be able to drive past 'em); the houses at both ends don't need easements, so they can park two cars side by side. Everyone parks in the street in front of their house. We're no exception. This has been working great for over a month. We park in front of our house in a space granted us by our landlord, and since the street literally ends at our house we don't keep anyone from driving wherever they need to go.

Today my aforementioned VNYH came home early because, being a sweetie, he wanted to make dinner and set the table with flowers, china and candles (it is our two-month anniversary, and I had no idea it was such a big deal!) He discovered that someone had left a very charming note on our windshield:

PARK HERE AGAIN YOU WILL BE TOWED

This note features an unusual system of grammar previously unknown to us, but he made the reasonable interpretation that this is a threat. Somebody doesn't think we should be parking there (though we have every legal right to), and did not want to leave the matter open for discussion (say, by leaving their address or phone number). Very neighborly.

He talked to the next-door neighbors, who had no idea why anyone would have a problem with our parking. We talked to the downstairs neighbors, who've been parking there for two years and have never had notes like this left on *their* door. So I guess now we'll have to leave explanatory notes on our windshield, and be prepared to fight with the tow-truck company (if they come, they WILL tell us who called them, and we WILL take them to small-claims court if necessary to recover the fees). Our neighbors have kindly offered to call off the tow truck if it comes when we aren't there.

Pretty exciting. Funny, ain't it, how after years of living in dorms and off-campus student housing, it's after we move in with the grown-ups that we start having problems with petty dictators and power games ...