ABC FOAM FLOOR PUZZLE

Cruisin At Night

Cruisin’ at Night spans the panorama of American pop – blues, folk, rock and even a little jazz – with Ludovico often deconstructing the style by drumming off the beat and writing in minor chords. They’ve created their own community, one that pays ironic homage to the rebellion against the simpler life to which they now aspire. Their errant time machine brought them back, whole, and it sounds just as fresh as the day the music was invented. This is a perfect world. And this is the perfect soundtrack.

Technically, Fatlips Tower had five floors, however, as usual in these towers, the ground floor counts as one floor, even though it was actually two! I'll' try that again! This is the vaulted ground floor, which was originally divided into two levels by an entresol floor beneath its vault, the joists of which rested on the 'scarcement' (ledge) formed by the side walls. The only natural light to these two levels was from narrow slit-windows in the gables. Above this was the Hall on the 1st floor! ("But isn't that the 3rd floor?!)

There was less light in this room that the stitched together photo suggests, and I didn't really get a look at the contents until I saw the photo! The room mostly contains neat blocks of ashlar stone, which I presume has come from the missing parapet wall. It also contains the remains of two cannon carriages. These date back to the days when the castle was used by the Earls of Minto as a private museum for their collection of old weaponry. Amongst the collection were two cannon, which stood outside the castle (and are presumably now back at Minto House), described as follows:

(a) an early breech-loading gun about 5ft 5 in long with a bore of 1 1/4 in. and
(b) a very handsome muzzle-loading cannon, now kept outside the tower, measuring 8ft 3in in length with a bore of 4 7/8 in. Round the breach runs the inscription ASSVERVS KOSTER ME FECIT AMSTELREDAMI 1637 ('Ahasuerus Koster made me at Amsterdam in 1637'). The breech end is enriched with fleurs-de-lys; above the trunnions the barrel is encircled by a scrollwork. A modern inscription on the carriage records that 'This gun was taken by Admiral Elliot 28 Feb. 1760 from the French Squadron Commanded by Monsieur Thurot in naval action off the Isle of Man'.

Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at M
noa, Honolulu.

The Ground Floor Blessing Ceremony occurred on May 17th, 2010. The blessing was conducted by Kahu David Kaupu, and the event was attended by Library faculty, staff and student assistants.

The last 5 1/2 years (when the flash flood destroyed the ground floor) have been challenging, but the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. The photo above was taken in the brand new Government Documents and Maps Reference area.

Le Bambole Mk. II Pinhole Camera. Kodak 160 Portra NC. Exposure: f/256 and 3 minutes.

Cruisin’ at Night spans the panorama of American pop – blues, folk, rock and even a little jazz – with Ludovico often deconstructing the style by drumming off the beat and writing in minor chords. They’ve created their own community, one that pays ironic homage to the rebellion against the simpler life to which they now aspire. Their errant time machine brought them back, whole, and it sounds just as fresh as the day the music was invented. This is a perfect world. And this is the perfect soundtrack.

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