In any case, I met up with one of my sisters Saturday afternoon and we took a rather damp walk through the Dartmouth Commons:
Though the rain had pretty much let up, it was quite foggy, as I mentioned. The Old Town Clock was shrouded in mist when we emerged from the building after the Tattoo was over.
The word 'tattoo' is rooted in a 17th century Dutch term, "doe den tap toe" which basically means "turn off the tap". This was a signal sounded by either a drum or bugle to instruct innkeepers and publicans to stop serving beer, and recall soldiers to their barracks. "Tap toe" was Anglicized to "tattoo" and became synonymous with a drumbeat... hence the term "the devil's tattoo" which refers to tapping one's fingers on a table in idleness.