Tuesday 10th November 2009 - A Well-Equipped Library

          When I first arrived, I rushed down to the library to check whether it was worth staying in town for a few days.  I told them what I was looking for then rushed off to check-in and get my tyre fixed.  When I get back this morning, a whole table has been set aside for me, with books I might want to look at, and printouts from interesting websites: very impressive and very welcoming.  My regular readers will know what I mean when I say that this is a very well-equipped library.  In fact, there is one piece of equipment I can hardly keep my eyes off; almost as fine as the equipment at Winchester Library in Scott County Illinois.

          The Library itself is in a renovated match factory.  So it's one of those places where the simple structure of the building is highly visible, and the air-conditioning is surface-mounted.  It is quite clear that this building did not cost a penny more than was absolutely necessary.  Any Victorian British city housing speculator would have been proud of it.  I'm sure you won't be surprised to discover that, not only are the innards made entirely of wood, it's not even hardwood.  One single match and it would have been gone, which is an odd thing to observe about a 100-year-old MATCH factory.

 

          The most interesting book is one from 1892 about Post Office History in general, with lots of quite partisan anecdotes.  In particular, it has a whole chapter on how local Post Offices came into being.  For example, when the whole process had been completed, the about-to-be-appointed local postmaster got a certificate and instructions from the "Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General':

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          Later that night, I find myself in a bar which was opened originally by Gene Tunney, who was heavyweight boxing champion of the world in the late 1920s.  Although in somewhat distressed circumstances, it is still clearly has many original art-deco features.

          [It occurred to me that some people might find it a bit odd to put nitrogen in tires.  It certainly seemed odd to me.  When I was getting a check done in Minneapolis, at the Mazda dealers, I asked them to check the tire pressures, and they said "would you like us to put nitrogen in them?  It's a free offer at the moment".  And they gave me a leaflet.  Apparently it saves petrol by keeping the tires cooler, and therefore nearer the right size.  Something to do with moisture content.  I can't find the leaflet, but that's what I remember.  It was free,and resulted in cool green dust caps.  Of course I should have remembered that when I was using my old trick of finding out if the pressure was low by feeling the temperature]