In Britain, filling out endless bureaucratic forms is accepted asinevitably as a bad cold, a bus queue or a summer holiday ruined byrain. But every so often the worm turns, and victims everywhere enjoy avictory against the common bureaucrat. Recently Builder Eric Neate.constructing a small factory at Andover in Hampshire, routinely sent ablueprint of the factory to the County Planning Committee. Complyingwith committee orders that all factories must have flower beds. Neate’sarchitect indicated a space for “shrubs.” Back to Neate came the planwith a question: What kind of plants did Neate intend planting? Back tothe committee went Neate’s reply: he was planning to plant Urticadioica, Calystegia sepium, Rnmex obtusijolius and Taraxacumoffi-cinale—but was willing to amend the list in any way the PlanningCommittee desired. Mollified, the county council stamped hisapplication “approved.” Apparently none of the committee bureaucratsrealized that what Neate proposed to plant was stinging nettles,bindweed, dock and dandelion.