drjaycat

I have a wall and fence around my garden, which belongs entirely to my property. Any damn fool can tell that, as it matches all the way round unlike most of the neighbours' piecemeal efforts. I came back from holiday to find that (newish) neighbours on one side had painted their side of my fence black (mine is red cedar), damaging plants and the paintwork on my side of the fence in the process. They refuse to return it to the correct colour, or to pay compensation for damage etc. I'd prefer not to have to go to court over this, but am quite seriously ticked off! Any suggestions?

It's stopped recognising CDs - sometimes starts playing but more often doesn't, and even when it does start it only plays a few seconds before just spinning aimlessly. Can't even get it to recognise the lens cleaning CD!

I've posted about this before - a woman I detest who has her claws into my best friend. If you track my last question, it was about how my friend refused to listen about how evil and out of control this woman is. 5 months down the line, I am still angry about my friend's refusal to face up to what this woman is really like, and indeed to even talk about what she did. I have found it increasingly difficult to continue to think of my best friend AS my best friend, because I feel that she puts this woman's feelings first, and am consequently distancing myself from her to avoid arguments. Any suggestions for next step please?

My best friend has another friend whom I absolutely detest. This woman has ruined evenings out by her attention-seeking, drunken behaviour and about 2 years ago I started refusing to go to any outings she was associated with. Last weekend it was my best friend's 50th birthday, and she didn't tell me this woman had been invited. I stayed for her sake but left early. When I went to get my taxi, this other woman followed me out and started shouting abuse, then grabbed me and started shaking me. My taxi driver intervened, but the stupid woman grabbed on to the taxi door and tried to stop us leaving She was shouting and screaming, kicking out at my driver and generally being totally out of control. (This was the sort of behaviour that led to me leaving the group in the first place). We eventually got away, and when I was leaving the taxi we discovered that she'd also kicked the taxi door and damaged it. My driver has made a complaint to the police, and I have also made a statement, backing him up. My friend's sister-in-law witnessed it all but has refused to tell her what happened, and since clearly the woman concerned will not tell the truth, it will be my word against hers, so I have not said anything about it to my friend. Should I try to make her listen?

It's not an integrated machine and I am loathe to replace it since it's not very old, but I do want it hidden in my new kitchen. I'd hoped to just build it in to a deep unit, but the unit door is 600 mm wide, the same as the machine, so the unit itself is only 570mm wide. Any suggestions?

She was 21 and had a stroke last week, didn't recover.

A group of us from work were out at the theatre last night, seeing a mildly funny comedy. One of the girls put her coat on and said she was leaving at the interval, but was persuaded to stay. She then spent the first 10 mins laughing at inappropriate points of the play before falling asleep. Most of the group seemed to find this funny but two of us were extremely annoyed that she was spoiling the play for others. We are now refusing to go out with that group again, and they can't see why.

How difficult is it to see that rudeness and bad behaviour are not acceptable? And like I said at the start...these people are in their 40s and 50s!

As far as I can remember, it used to be a legal requirement for petrol stations to allow bona fide travellers use of toilet facilities...I had to stop at one today and ask to use the toilet, but I was refused access. They had no public facilities and would not let me use the staff one on Health and Safety grounds. Since I'd been driving quite a while and was in an area I was unfamiliar with, it left me in a very difficult situation. Fortunately I found a pub quite close by (and just in time!), but this was just luck. Surely this situation cannot be acceptable?

Does anyone know if I have grounds for complaint or am I just being fussy?

Someone I used to know (really, not me!) is married but spending her weekends with a lover while her husband stays home and looks after the kids. It makes no sense to me, can't understand why he doesn't kick her out. What do y'all think?

Met a guy about 9 months ago (through work), thought he was very cute...heard from one of his colleagues he thought I was nice too., and also heard he was single...but for various reasons didn't see him again until recently. The attraction I felt was still there, but in the course of conversation he mentioned that he had a girlfriend now...but he also said she lives several hundred miles away. Should I give up on getting closer to him? I'm too old to play games, but also too old to make a fool of myself.

she's still living with her husband although technically separated..but has started meeting much younger men and staying out all night. I think she's storing up trouble, but she doesn't want to hear me...and now she's started being abusive to me. Do I end the friendship? Because frankly I'm starting to feel it's all one-way.

My lover will be with his wife and family - I have no family to spend the day with and won't impose on my friends.