The Charmed Life Of Danny Murphy - 5. Chapter 5

The Arts Tower had only been opened in the previous year. It was a twenty story building just across the road from the Students' Union building, to one side, and slightly behind, the old red-brick university buildings where we were doing our Integrated Biology course. It is often said that Sheffield was modelled after Rome, having been built on seven hills. And, since the university was near the top of one of those hills, the Arts Tower could be seen from almost anywhere in the city.

It had stairs to all the floors, as well as a high speed lift system. But you might have to wait a long time for that lift to actually arrive at the floor where you were standing, and then you might find it was going in the opposite direction you wanted when it did finally arrive. So it also had what was known as a paternoster lift system, which basically consisted of a chain of open carriages, each just large enough for two people, that moved in a loop up and down the building without stopping. The cars travelled slowly so that passengers could step on or off at any floor they liked. There were two entrances side by side on each floor, one with carriages moving slowly upwards, and one with them moving downwards. It had apparently been given the name paternoster since the carriages could be thought of as being similar to the individual beads on a set of rosary beads.

When I had been in Sheffield for my interview the previous February it had been one of the things that the university had seemed keen that I should take a look at, even though I had applied to study Botany and wouldn't actually be using the Arts Tower. I'd even travelled up and down a few flights on the paternoster.

"I've already seen it. When I came up for interview at the beginning of the year" I said.

A few of the others said they had too.

"Yes, but have you gone over the top on it yet?" asked Nick.

"Over the top? What do you mean?"

"Have you stayed in it when it gets to the top floor. It goes up, moves across, and starts down again."

"Are you sure?" asked John. "Doesn't it turn upside down?"

"Well I was talking to someone who's doing Architecture on the top floor. He claims it doesn't actually go up and over, but moves across."

"Wow, sounds like fun to me!" exclaimed James. "I'm up for giving it a go. Will the tower still be open?"

"Looks like it," said Alison. "There's plenty of lights in lots of the windows."

So we crossed the road and headed round the side of the old red-brick building and a few minutes later the gang of us were standing inside the front entrance of the Arts Tower. Since we would all be able to fit in the main lift together, and especially as it was already at the ground floor, we decided to use that to take us up to the top floor so we could try going over the top on the paternoster. When we eventually got there, Nick deliberately placed his briefcase so it would block the lift doors. That way the doors couldn't close, so should someone try calling it from another floor, the lift couldn't go back down until we were ready to leave.

We all carefully studied the paternoster. To the left the carriages were slowly moving upwards, and to the right they were moving down.

"I'm not sure," said Elizabeth dubiously after a few moments. "The roofs and floors basically look the same. Maybe it does turn upside down at the top."

"Well I've heard that it doesn't," stated Nick. "I was told it moves sideways when it gets to the top, and then starts coming back down the other side."

"Don't reckon we could actually fall out if it did turn upside down, anyway," I announced. "And the carriages are only about eight foot high. Reckon you wouldn't hurt yourself if the roof suddenly became the floor. I'll give it a try."

I think the three pints of cider might have clouded my judgement slightly as, before anyone could say anything to dissuade me, I had stepped into the next upwards moving carriage. Nick jumped in beside me.

"That's what I like to see," he exclaimed. "A man who's not afraid to take a chance in life."

As the lift continued upwards the interior got very dark. We could hear an occasional sort of juddering sound above our heads.

"What's that noise?" I asked.

"Haven't a clue."

Although it was probably only five seconds or so, the upwards journey seemed to take forever. And the juddering noise seemed to be getting louder and louder.

"Scared yet?" asked Nick from the darkness beside me.

"No. You?"

"I think apprehensive might be the word," he said, just as the carriage seemed to come to a halting stop.

Just as I was beginning to worry that it may have actually broken down, the carriage started to move sideways in a series of jolting movements.

"Just don't fall on top of me if it does turn upside down," he laughed. "The parents might not too be happy if I finish up in hospital after less than two weeks away from home."

"I just wish we had some light," I said.

Nick found a box of matches in his pocket and struck one. All we could see was the inside of the carriage; but the mere fact that we could actually see anything made me feel a bit better.

Then, without any prior warning, the carriage started moving slowly downwards again. And, probably not much more than fifteen seconds or so after we had first stepped into the carriage, we were standing back on the twentieth floor with the rest of the gang.

"God! I was so worried," said Alison. "It didn't turn upside down on you, did it?"

"Don't worry, Ali," laughed Nick. "I was with him all the time. He was in no danger."

I reddened slightly. It seemed that everyone knew that Alison was flirting with me. I just wasn't used to the whole boy meets girl thing, so wasn't sure how I was supposed to react or behave.

"No, Nick was right. It moved sideways. " I said.

"Okay, who's going next?" I then asked, mentally kicking myself for changing the subject.

There followed about ten minutes or so of absolute silliness as different pairs of people got into the carriages and experienced going over the top. Someone then said that they wanted to try going under the bottom, so we took the main lift back down to the ground floor where we all took turns getting into the downward moving carriage. I have to say that the over the top experience seemed the better of the two to me.

Not many minutes later we were all back out on the street again, where I was saying a slightly drunken farewell to my new circle of friends. Some of them, Alison in particular it seemed, wanted me to stay a little longer. But I was worried that if I didn't get back to my digs soon, Mrs Moseley, my new landlady, might have locked the door and gone to bed. I hadn't planned on staying out late when I had left the house that morning, so hadn't actually told her that I might be later than normal getting back in the evening. I didn't know her well enough yet to know how she might react to being woken up by a slightly drunken student demanding that she get out of bed to let him in. And the fact that she hadn't actually offered to give me a key also rankled somewhat. After all, my mother had given me one when I had started working late nights at the café.

As it was, she was sat watching television when I finally arrived back shortly after eleven. She coldly informed me that, if wanted a cup of cocoa before I went to bed, I was welcome to make myself one. But she didn't even offer to let me sit in the living room and watch the television with her.

I was rapidly deciding that I didn't really enjoy living here. And that fact wasn't lessened in any way when, after I had drunk my cocoa, and washed and returned the cup to its hook, I got to my bedroom to find Derek, my room-mate, sitting in his pyjamas in the only chair in the room with a pair of earphones on his head, listening to a record on a portable record player which he'd brought with him from home, along with a number of LP's. But he had informed me, and in no uncertain terms, that they were his property, so I'd better keep my hands off them. I could just barely make out that he was listening to Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, but he didn't even acknowledge my presence.

I sighed and got ready for bed. I had a little difficulty trying to get to sleep because of the background noise from Derek's headphones, but I lay there happily enough, thinking about the good night that I had had, the potential new friends that I had been chatting to, and the hope that I may have actually finally met a possible future girlfriend. It seemed as though university life was going to suit me.

Derek finally closed the lid on his record player and went to bed. But, just as I was about to fall asleep, his loud snoring brought me back to full consciousness. I sighed, turned so I was facing the wall, and pulled my pillow over my ears to try to block the noise. He sounded like a motor bike with engine problems. I decided that I would buy some cotton wool the following day to stuff in my ears before going to bed in future. His constant snoring was starting to play havoc with my sleep pattern.