I live in a small terrace with communal path leading to my house at the end and no fence boundaries between houses, so the path to mine and my neighbour's front door is effectively shared I guess.
She owns her house, I rent privately. She is in her late 50s/early 60s I am guessing.
For the first year and half living here, all was amicable. But below lists what has occurred since, with no catalyst I can think of. But does this count as unreasonable enough behaviour to warrant taking steps forward and involving the police? ~ can it really be harrassment if it's by an old dear? 
I think the police will just laugh it off if I ask their advice, but at this stage I believe it's the only way she will understand how anoying her behaviour has become.
She's an ex- professional Nanny so I'm surprised at her behaviour.
When my two under 4s play in the front garden, I can see them from the window but occassionally their ball will fly into her garden. I don't notice this happening. Eventually she confiscated the ball.
She also removed the eldest's scooter and put it in the skip. It's now gone, presume someone drove past and took the scooter. The scooter was used for getting to nursery and was an oldfashioned robust thing you cant buy anymore.
I received totally unexpected letter from Environmental Health that an anonymous neighbour complained I was persistently entering my attic space after midnight and making unacceptable noise. I can't get in the attic as I don't know how to put the ladder back up again, let alone after midnight with sleeping kids. I've never been up there! I think it's the stair gates, but even so with a baby I hardly bang that about at night.
This neighbour has complained to my letting agency several times that both children 'run amok' in the gardens, even when the little one hadnt started to walk yet. The eledest has perhaps twice run off down the neighbour's garden, no-one's in fenced.
If my children are playing outside in the usual manner of under 4s, I am told I 'can't keep them under control'.
Very recently she has begun leaving the house early in the morning and leaving a radio or TV on VERY loud ie it's obviously at full volume, upstairs, even as early as 5.50am, I suspect so that it wakes us all up!
Just before she got in her car one time to leave for holiday, she buzzed and buzzed my doorbell (oldfashioned 90million decibel thing) at 6am, then buggered off for three weeks so I couldnt say anthing!
She went through a short phase of buzzing the doorbell at ridiculously early times of the morning, but that's stopped since I disconnected it at night.
I live alone with my kids and hate confrontation. The scooter issue is unnacceptable really, so I have to do something about it all now.
So what do you think? Would a visit from the police enable her to see how unacceptable her actions are? Or are the police just going to think I'm exagerrating as she's a lonely old pensioner on her own, in a very respectable neighbourhood, and I'm a single parent with kids in a rented house, unemployed, I can just feel the prejudice fermenting already :(
And yes, I have talked to her once or twice about these things, but I am wary of upsetting the apple cart anymore, after all, if she can get a response frm Environmental Health without my knowledge and she clearly despairs of my parenting skills, then what's to stop her complaining to Social Services? Who knows what she's capable of.
After two years, I would say eggshells are definately beginning to line up along our communal path :(
What's the best course of action here before things get out of hand?