THE panel beaters of Canberra must be rejoicing at TAMS’ tardiness to fix the parking idiocy at the Yarralumla shops where cars park nose in both sides of Bentham Street, meaning simultaneous reversing can end in accidents, as happened here.

Local Liberal MLA Steve Doszpot, who has been nagging for a safe solution, bemoaned the latest episode that had a black car lurching forward to avoid backing into someone and in the process pushed the parked grey car on to the welcome mat of a gift store. As Steve points out, it’s a mercy no one was walking by at the time.

Mick makes it easy

“Understanding the rules behind place naming in the ACT has become easier with the launch of new online guidelines,” trumpeted a media release from Planning Minister Mick Gentleman,  but neglected to include a link to them.

The angry mob

PERILS of offshore editing… CC’s Weston snout spotted this howler in “The Canberra Times”, commenting: “Obviously the NZ sub editors don’t know that kangaroos are herbivorous. In any case, the story does not support the heading”. The roos are eating the grassland habitat of the reptiles, not the animals themselves.

Flying low

FACEBOOK confession from press gallery TV cameraman Nick Haggarty that he’d been at work almost two hours before realising his fly was open.

“That’s okay,” he laconically admits, “hadn’t shot anything serious, only one interview with the PM.”

Apparently a joke

SPOTTED on hotcopper.com.au, a national stock market forum: “No Nativity Scene in Canberra this Year”, which apparently is a joke that goes: “The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a nativity scene in the nation’s capital this Christmas season. This isn’t for any religious reason. They simply have not been able to find Three Wise Men in Canberra. The search for a virgin continues. There was no problem, however, finding enough donkeys to fill the stable.” Hmmm.

Let’s shop physical

SILLY season has started with this odd endorsement by the Heart Foundation CEO, Tony Stubbs, of the Bunda Street Shareway in Civic, which apparently “represents a significant step forward to a safer and healthier city.” It would seem shopping is good for your health.