One thing you do on dog walks is notice things, from the people on the bus (which passes at 8.10am) to visitors staying with family, how the sun is rising a little bit earlier every morning this time of year. One thing that has always intrigued me is the initials and dates on house gates. Once you start noticing these things then you see dates everywhere....and of course the JF initials on all the benches....who is JF......but more of that later. So as a result of all this noticing, I've been thinking about the dates and what was going on for Portugal when our neighbours installed their gates. 1916 The oldest gates I've found in our village. The house is now abandoned, but it's a lovely place, with some great stone work. This gate was installed during the First World War. In 1916 Germany declared war on Portugal. Portugal had honoured its old alliance with Great Britain by seizing German ships anchored in Lisbon’s harbour following a request to c