Last month I noticed that somehow a yard length of the curb in front of my house had been crushed. What the hell am I gonna do about that? I thought. What are the chances of finding the culprit?

Good neighbors and their prying eyes improved those chances. The empty lot across the street sports a construction crew raising a house. Apparently one day a large dump truck came to deliver a load of gravel and was having a devil of a time maneuvering into position. Though no one saw the moment of impact, the consensus among my neighbors was that it had to be the truck that done it.

A search of the appropriate public records gave the lot owner's address. And then I dithered; how to phrase the letter without coming across as a malicious opportunist, especially as there were no eyewitnesses to the actual act of destruction. As several weeks passed I could no longer even remember the date of the incident. The lot owner would most likely dismiss my query as unsubstantiated and without merit.

I eventually slapped together a letter in my own convoluted style. The next day the neighbor across the street stopped by. I did not include my phone number in the letter, so the owner of the lot called this neighbor to tell him that my curb would be repaired when the crew began work on replacing the sidewalk in front of the house being constructed.

So that is a gratifying result. Firstly, I was able to actually deal with the situation by making something of a stand. Secondly, the lot owner didn't quibble or prevaricate, and instead immediately took responsibility for the needed repairs.

Hopefully it was in fact the dump truck that did the damage.