Funny gargoyle

Good evening everybody. My name is Tim and I live in Oxford since October last year. Let me start by saying thank you to Percy for giving me the opportunity to post some of my favourite pictures of Oxford on his blog while he is away.

My first picture shows a so-called gargoyle. This particular one can be found at Balliol College, but you can see them on many other historic buildings across the city. Gargoyles are carved stone grotesques and they were originally built to carry off water from the gutters of buildings. Some were carved by stonemasons who didn’t want them to be waterspouts but to have an ornamental or artistic function. What I like most of them is the fact that you often see something funny from yourself or someone else in them. This one, for example, is writing while sticking out his tongue. I happen to do the same thing when I’m trying to concentrate and Pete Sampras, former Wimbledon champion, did the same thing during his tennis matches. I wonder what you recognize in some of Oxford's gargoyles?