Once a newspaper photographer...

When John spotted this man clipping a neighbour's plants, his old newspapering instincts kicked in.  Photos by John Denniston. 

 

Even though John challenged him and was obviously photographing him, the man kept clipping away.

John has been a patient patient, abiding strictly by the “no-exertion” rules laid down for his recovery from ear surgery on Saturday.

 But on Tuesday, minutes after leaving the house for one of the few breaths of fresh air he’s taken so far, there he was, in full confrontational news-photographer mode.

 Sharper-eyed than myself, he spotted a man chopping away at a neighbour’s underbrush with a pair of red secateurs. The back story is that for the past year, Dunbar residents have been flummoxed by mysterious attacks on trees, shrubs and other plantings along local sidewalks. Sometimes the foliage was growing over sidewalks, so there appeared to be a reason. But sometimes it wasn’t, and beloved trees well away from the sidewalk were inexplicably lopped.

 John’s newsman instincts kicked in in a flash. “Stop that!” he yelled, dashing toward the crime scene, cellphone camera at the ready. “You’re the guy whose been cutting people’s trees!”

 “I’m cutting these,” the white-haired man, wearing a baseball cap and a bag slung over his shoulder, said as he continued snipping away. Barely looking up, he almost posed for the series of photographs that John began taking. Then, after a heated exchange between him and John, he drifted away across the intersection.

  “I’m doing this for disabled people and seniors and strollers,” he called back. “Sidewalks are supposed to be clear.”

 We still don’t know who the man is, whether he’s responsible for the previous clipping work, or what to do about him. But we do know that a retired newspaper photographer, even an under-the-weather one, can go from zero to 120 in a couple of seconds if a good story pops up.