Here’s bundle of photographic fun to finish the year. It’s “Seven days” with IAN MEIKLE.

IF a picture’s worth a thousand words, this is by far my biggest column this year!

I’ve been collecting all sorts of dumb odds and sods from my loyal and tireless snouts across the city. So I’ve bundled them together into this picture parade of random stuff that mostly has the inert ACT government lurking behind it. 

INNER-north snout and “Canberra Matters” columnist Paul Costigan sent through a couple of photos of a sign (this column lurves signs) planted at ground level around O’Connor.

“I had seen it many times as I drove by and wondered who was supposed to read it. I thought maybe it was for the magpies,” he writes.

“On Sunday, curiosity got to me and I parked to have a read.”

Turns out it’s an invitation from the ACT government for locals to “Have your say on path improvements in O’Connor as part of the Age Friendly Suburbs Program”. 

“Seems the aged community operates at ground level in O’Connor,” he sniffed.

READER Bob Cousins sent in a photo of a road sign for “Oakeden Street”, Greenway. I looked and looked and had to write back to ask what the point of the photo was. At least I looked, because clearly the responsible officer for nomenclature in the Road Signs Directorate didn’t and waved it through. 

“A check on Google maps, a look at EvoEnergy’s address and a look at the new developments in the street indicate that it is actually Oakden Street.” Doh! We’ll watch and see how long it takes them to correct it.

HERE’S a cracker from my Yarralumla snout that makes you wonder what came first, the pole or the pavement?

POTHOLES have been the toast of Canberra as the rain hammered down over recent months and exposed how badly made some of our roads are. But full marks to the tarmac crews going around the place filling them in difficult circumstances. 

Maybe they’ve missed this one at Katherine Avenue, outside Amaroo School. It’s big enough to fit a (reluctant) dog into as reporter Lily Pass is demonstrating with her miniature dachshund Fletch. 

RON Tollenaar, of Richardson, wrote in response to the column’s call for entries in the “Seven Days shame award”. 

He compared Planning Minister Mick Gentleman’s comments about local shops being the “heart and soul” of their suburbs with a photo of his suburb’s derelict local shops, which he says have been empty for more than four years. I went and had a look and they’re an eyesore. 

Ron chased up the minister’s office for action to be told “sorry, private lease, nothing we can do about it”.

“This is a toxic blight, one that has a negative effect on local homeowners and the potential value of their asset and shows total disrespect of the local community,” he says. 

“This is not something that we should expect in our beautiful city, nor any other for that matter, but where does the solution lie, not with Gentleman Mick it would seem.”

SIMILARLY, emeritus professor Marian Sawer offered up this for the “Shame” awards. She says it’s a Housing ACT property at 10 Barnet Close, “which is part of the heritage-listed cluster housing on Swinger Hill”. 

“Last year they demolished the Bowral brick courtyard wall, which is part of the listing but agreed to replace it once alerted they were in breach of the 2013 heritage guidelines,” she wrote.

“Since then (ie late 2021) no repairs have been done, which is hardly an edifying sight for the town-planning students coming to admire this pioneering cluster housing.”

Ian Meikle is the editor of “CityNews” and can be heard with Rod Henshaw on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” news and interview program, 2CC, 9am-noon. There are more of his columns on citynews.com.au