YOU can take the snapper out of the newsroom, but you can never take the fascination with action photography from the news snapper. And so it is for latter-day commercial lensman Andrew Campbell who, over recent months, has filed all sorts of wonderful photos to “CityNews” and citynews.com.au.

Curiously, his current series have all been nocturnal – photos of pre-dawn storms, glorious stars over Lake George, the crowd at the Anzac Day Dawn Service and a candlelight vigil protesting at domestic violence.

So, just to prove he can work in daylight, the restless one turned out this quite wonderful study of autumn trees in Moss Vale. Welcome to our world, Andrew.

It’s just a typo, you nuisance!

CC has a soft spot for the bacon-saving insurance company AAMI, having recourse in recent times to its help.

But we were startled by an email from Angela Wilkinson, who labours for the monolith as its senior corporate affairs advisor, personal insurance.

And we quote: “I thought I’d drop you a line to let you know that your local suburb of Dickson is among some of the worst suburbs in Tassie for common road accidents, according to the AAMI Crash Index.”

Tasmania? CC checked the attached box that listed five suburbs that seemed suspiciously to be from the national capital (ie in descending order, Canberra, Belconnen, Fyshwick, Gungahlin and Dickson, which was the best of the bad bunch) and not some cold, distant little island.

CC presumed to let Angela know of this howler, expecting, oh, contrition and gratitude. Unabashed she blew us off with a sort-of irritated, inaccurate, single line saying it was “just a typo. It’s meant to say ACT”.

See how she likes it when renewal time says NRMA!

Signs of the (wrong) times

A RESTAURANT critic with nowhere to eat! That was the prospect for the doyenne of Canberra food writers, Wendy Johnson, on a recent Sunday.

It’s not that she isn’t blessed with an overwhelming choice in this town, though it is interesting in recent times to see some iconic eateries bite the dust with Tosolini’s in London Circuit and Pheast in Manuka enduring the ignominity of having their premises separately secured by their landlords. Also in Manuka, Deli Alimente and Sushi Smith are gone as is Loui at the bus interchange.

But back to ravenous Wendy and her hungry chums: “I tried to go to Bicicletta in New Acton. The A-frame sign, mid-way from the carpark, said they were open. We got there. Closed. Not because it was late. It was 12.30pm. They just weren’t open.

“So we decided to go to Dickson to Plaka, which re-opened with a fresh new look. Sign on the door, said they were open. Not. Again, it wasn’t late. They just weren’t open.

“Lesson learned; don’t trust the signs.

“By now I am starving. So are my friends. It’s sunny and we want to sit outside. We’re in Asian-style Dickson, so no outdoor dining, so we landed at Sub-Urban.

“Then, on the way home, we thought we’d stop by the new pop-up bar on the lake. Pretty sunset. But closed (perhaps forever?). But hasn’t it just opened we asked? Sigh.”

Snailest mail

“CITYNEWS” got a “Final Notice” from Australia Post saying its post office box renewal was overdue (it wasn’t, it had already long been paid) and politely threatening the lovely, little paper with cancellation.

But the odd thing is that, despite owning and operating the postal service, Australia Post issued the reminder on April 16, but it took until May 5 to reach our mailbox. Snail mail, indeed.

Mummy dearest

A DUTIFUL daughter writes to say she took her Mother’s Day cards to the post office to get some stamps for them (she has two “mothers”, it’s complicated).

“I bought a book of 10 stamps featuring the ‘Things That Sting’ series, leaving me to ponder which poisonous stinging thing to affix to which mother’s card… sting ray? European wasp? Stone fish? Bull ant? Tiger snake? Lion fish?”