Gargoyles and other hangers on.

I'd like to introduce another theme here that's been one of my photographic interests for years.

Blech

I've always been fascinated by the creatures that sit or cling to walls and roofs, the ones that strive under window casements, and those that are stuck away in isolated nooks and crannies. Often, particularly in this busy world of ours, these silent sentinels are ignored or forgotten. They are also, even though cast in stone, aging.

Here are a few examples from Westminister Abbey (old churches, gothic ones in particular, are often great locations for gargoyle hunting).

The only problem is that they mostly occupy the higher realms.

Figures out of nightmare, figures out of time, many appearing to be quite ticked off.

I spy with my little eye something that is...

And mixed in with the menagerie of creatures are often the faces of people.

Golden Carousel

While we're on the topic of carousels I thought I'd like to add one more to this blog (even though it doesn't quite fit in with a lot of the criteria that I normally use when I photograph them).

I caught a glimpse of this carousel as Sid and I were walking across the Thames River, probably over the Hungerford Bridge, in London. That's the England one, not Ontario.

The ride was located on the walkway along the river embankment near 'the Eye', that big ferris wheel thingy that is located there. I don't believe this is a permanent installation so don't expect to necessarily find it there if you visit.

Okay, so the horses are fiberglass, not wood,

and the horses have names, which is nice I guess,

and it's gaudy as hell (is it just me or do you think that nobody does gaudy quite like the English),

and the horses have no tails,

but outside of all this there is one very major difference, did you notice? This carousel rotates in the opposite direction to every carousel I've seen in Canada and the United States, clockwise instead of counterclockwise.

Those English.

Colin