Citations of the season: The red flag...

Citations of the season: The red flag on the parking meter was visible, and sure enough, Scott Seomin found a souvenir from the city of West Hollywood on his windshield a few days ago. But it wasn’t a parking ticket. It was a parking poem, which read:

The meter was red, as time had expired.

In the rush of the season, we knew you’d be tired.

A parking ticket would just make you blue ,

And in the holiday spirit this just would not do.

So during this time of friendship and good cheer ,

Season’s greetings to you and best wishes all year.

That’s West Hollywood for you--the city parking agency with a poetic meter.

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Cream cheese with your paranoia, sir? Lauren Kay came across the enclosed flyer from a Downtown company that delivers “New York bagels”--with sort of a New York attitude.

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A reason to go on living: Lincoln Haynes mailed us the big announcement from an eatery in a posh neighborhood. “It’s finally here after three years in the making,” the notice gushed. “We can now offer espresso, cappuccino, latte , mocha specialty coffees. . . .” But who would expect anything less from McDonald’s of Rolling Hills?

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Hollywood’s first reaction to the Bobbitt case? In the just-out movie, “Beethoven’s 2nd,” a youngster is threatened by a bully and reacts by telling his dog: “Bite this guy in the wiener.” The guy flees intact.

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A truly impossible deadline: “I tried, but I just missed it,” wrote Derek Lovett, referring to a loan application from Manufacturer’s Bank that was supposed to be submitted “between the months of November and December.”

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But we should talk: We erroneously wrote the other day that a lawsuit accused county Supervisor Mike Antonovich of conspiring “with a judge” by phoning him on behalf of some campaign contributors.

We should have said that Antonovich was accused of conspiring unsuccessfully to influence the judge. The latter--Superior Court Judge Eric Younger--not only reported the call but excused himself from the case because he said he was “uncomfortable about the call either having an impact or the appearance of an impact.”

We plead nolo contendere to leaving our brain at home when we came to work.

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One last Christmas leftover: Readers have reported seeing a panhandler with the sign, “Why Lie, I Need a Beer,” in five cities, from Malibu to Covina. So familiar has it become that it was spoofed in Pasadena. A holiday display showed a homeless Santa mannequin pushing a shopping cart next to a sign that said, “Why Lie, I Need an Egg Nog.”

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Here’s one movie Bob Packwood didn’t want under his Christmas tree: Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide 1994 describes “The Senator Was Indiscreet” thusly: “Wit-playwright (George S.) Kaufman’s only directorial fling turns out quite well, with (William) Powell as senator whose diary causes embarrassment.”