Gargle then Spit

Gargoyles, originally uploaded by Neorelix.

I spent years as a kid wondering why people called these Gargles and assuming it was because rain would be 'spat' from them. And then when I clicked to Gargoyle I just loved the noun. It's such a...physical word. It's up there amongst my favourites along with 'antepenultimate' and 'misericord'. Of course, my absolute favourite word is 'pert' but that's a direction we probably shouldn't travel in. So anyway, these seven ugly chaps adorn our Catholic Church - Our Lady and the English Martyrs - at Hyde Park Corner. Just looking at them wrongly seems to me to invite fire and brimstone into your future...