menial	physical
to prostrate oneself	to throw oneself on the floor and lie face down
insular	narrow-minded and avoiding contact with others
haphazard	random
martinet	a person that imposes a discipline and demands obedience from others
ignominious	causing despair, shame, humiliating
ignominy	humiliation, disgrace
to crumple	to cause sth to be pressed into folds/ to collapse
to do sth on end	to do sth continually
towering	extremely tall/ intense, extreme
rift in sth	a break, gap/ serious disagreement
overriding	more important than everything else
a blot on the landscape	sth that is ugly
to plough back	to reinvest
from scratch	from the very beginning
to go Dutch	to share expenses
to level sth against sb	to bring sth against sb
to stand	to buy
to get a word in edgeways	to interrupt
to reshuffle	to change the order of sth
slapstick	based on comic situations
party wall	a wall that divides houses
to be in for a rude awakening	to realise suddenly that things don't look so good
pretty penny	a lot of money
a chip on one's shoulder	to be angry because one doesn't get what he deserves
relapse	a change for the worse
to get the hang of sth	to learn how to do sth well
to slaughter	to exterminate
gruesome	macabre, terrible
to dwindle	to become less or fewer
to cull	to kill weaker animals
to stray	to ramble