Cheeky whippet.

The Manhattanites and super smart Los Angelenos are back at work after their Christmas holidays. Plenty to talk about this morning ( or evening their time ) with North Koreas shelling of coastal islands being the surprise event du jour.  The dark suits are agreed that the US election - and the losing sides  response to it - will be the defining event of the year. The Manhattanites  seem surprised that this year will also see elections in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the UK.

Puppy and a sister are waiting for us as we head off on out first walk of the day. The third and eldest dog now likes to lie by the side of the farmers AGA until she's told to go out. This gives the two younger ones carte blanche to go off in search of adventure.

It's dry and mild so we stop for our start of day espressos at a Starbucks pavement table. This enables us to people watch. Four Japanese girls get out of a taxi and unload their suitcases before disappearing into a flat above Subway. They have that disheveled  ' I didn't get a wink of sleep ' look that marks out passengers from the overnight London sleeper. I'd thought the new semester starts on Monday. Turns out teaching starts  a week after that. This explains why there are so few students around. 

Todays dose of excitement is provided by a woman with a whippet. She's sitting on a bench eating a bacon sandwich which she shares with the dog. For every two bites she takes the whippet gets one. This works until the whippet decides to move things along by grabbing what's left of the bacon roll in its jaws and swallowing it. The woman looks at the dog and says  ' You are a cheeky monkey Mister whippet ! '. This unusual sentence construct  is repeated . The whippet exudes an aura of contentment.

Wonderful waves and sunshine down on the beach.

Outside the metaphysics department a seagull is standing tapping the grass with its feet. This is how they attract worms to the surface. The seagull ignores us and focuses on breakfast. The seagulls have an attitude that lets you know that they are the original inhabitants of this town and that humans are irritating late comers.

Carved above the stone entrance of a large house down by the sea a date - presumably the year it was built. We stand and finally work it out. Can you ?

Stanfords finest turn their attention to burger flipping :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMNumQ45pJ8

More questions than answers :https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7e5mb/mysterious-section-of-the-great-wall-of-china-isnt-what-we-thought-study-reveals

An esoteric subject :https://www.myjournalcourier.com/lifestyle/article/from-the-roman-empire-to-your-therapist-039-s-18587490.php