But graffiti is an art form and your well-travelled columnist fancies that Canberra's graffiti is some of the best in the world. Perhaps we should be as proud of the best of it as, say, we are proud of Nick Kyrgios, of our ice hockey heroes the CBR Brave, of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

This large-scale masterpiece, at a Canberra skate park, was seen, admired and photographed (for her legendary Nah, It's Canberra blog) by Mel Edwards. She is one of three contributors (and this image is part of her contribution) to the refreshingly gritty #urbancanberra photo exhibition at Photoaccess in the Manuka Arts Centre (next to the Manuka Pool).

#urbancanberra knocks socks off until 24 August.

And while on the subject of urban Canberra...recent references here to our iconic old, round bus shelters (they're attracting delighted photographic praise on the Human Brochure website) have had some readers reporting that they are being phased out.

"When did you last catch an ACTION bus?" one reader scoffed, alleging that there are hardly any of the famous shelters left now because they're being systematically replaced by those characterless steel and glass shelters, sometimes, inexplicably, festooned with ads for things (like submarines and fighter aircraft) few users of public transport can possibly afford.

Alarmed (and anxious to buy an old bus shelter as an amusing front garden decoration, before they're all destroyed) we have probed and investigated.

The good news, gleaned from our trustworthy ACT government (which turns out to have a "bus shelter policy"), seems to be that, while since 2007 a total of 56 of the old shelters have been removed and replaced, they can't sell me one of those, yet, because the dear old "bunker" shelters are picked up and actively deployed elsewhere.

Generally, the 56 were taken from "high-use" places (so that the new "Adshel" shelters that replace them can brandish their advertising at the largest possible number of commuters) and re-installed in quieter bailiwicks. We rather like the idea that the venerable shelters are being removed to uneventful spots where, ageing now, they'll be in serene semi-retirement. I look forward to having one of them spend its twilight years in my Garran garden.

This being Canberra, unhappy Lanyon Valley readers, noticing the sudden appearance of one of the transferred old shelters in their newish part of the world, tell us they suspect that the government is foisting the ugly old shelters on unfashionable parts of Canberra because those places are thought hooligan-prone and the old concrete shelters are so vandal-proof.

Of course after what's happened to Mike Carlton (sacked by the Sydney Morning Herald for giving frank email advice to some of his readers) one has to be careful. But we have politely advised Lanyon Valley doubters (and this column does quite a lot of discreet, psychotherapeutic counselling of Canberrans) that the old, round shelters are so iconic, so shyly stylish, that they should rejoice at having their neighbourhood adorned with one.

Canberrans, especially those who live in brooding, complaining Yarralumla, often struggle to rejoice, to count their First World blessings.

It's not a competition, but what is the largest flock of our city's faunal emblem the Gang-gang cockatoo (also the emblem of an internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning media column) you have ever seen?

Back to Gang-gangs in a moment but first, while we're discussing birds, here is Robert Wynne's glass, bronze and steel The Magpie's Hoard, a finalist in this year's (and alas the last ever) Ranamok Glass Prize. The finalists' pieces will soon be on display at the Canberra Glassworks.

Wynne, from Manly, may be a little ornithologically confused, for his seems to be an Australian magpie when it is other, foreign magpie species that are notorious hoarders of shiny things. But the piece is glorious and of it the artist trills "The lure of shiny things, the dream of ownership and the threat of losing it all - themes of The Magpie’s Hoard. Here is pride, desire and fear - and the seductive, ephemeral beauty of the shiny things." *

Meanwhile, this brightly plumaged column continues to promote this year's year-long Gang-gang Survey, curated by the Canberra Ornithologists Group but with all Canberrans urged to contribute. The new, August edition of COG's newsletter Gang-gang bristles with the latest Gang-gang Survey data and with Gang-gang anecdotes.

The anecdotes include a quite stomach-churning explicit description of a Gang-gang eating repulsive (to us) sawfly larvae ("he appeared to squeeze out the yummy stuff and discard the skins") and a report of a sighting of a flock of 55 Gang-gangs flying over Uriarra Crossing.

To find how you can assist the Gang-gang Survey go to www.canberrabirds.org.au

* The Ranamok Glass Prize exhibition is at the Canberra Glassworks, 13 August to 18 September.