A few observations I forgot to mention before
* There are a lot of ads posted on signposts throughout the city, especially in the ruined areas, offering services for mold removal, house gutting (going in and taking everything, including the drywall, out), tree removal (these can often be seen attached to fallen trees), and such and such.
* About half of the stoplights are still not working. There are many stop signs put up in intersections that could use more than just a stop sign.
I'm sure there's more addendums that I've forgotten, but my mind's a blank, and it's probably just as well.
So on to where we left off...
The past couple days have been going to parades, missing parades because we dragged our heels, visiting friends and family, and missing more parades because we decided at the last minute to spend more time with friends and family. Pretty much a good time has been had by all.
The Endymion parade, which is one of the bigger parades with a formal ball at the end of the route and everything, got postponed on Saturday because of the potential for wind and rain (neither of which ended up happening for any significant period of time). That, apparently, is quite unprecedented, and is likely a sign that the powers that be are still a bit shaken by the harsh weather they had last August. Whatever the cause, a lot of people got bent outta shape by that. Endymion is a fun parade, with fiber optic lighting and stuff (it's a night parade), and lots of people came into the city that day to see it. The up side, however, is that last night, the people got not one, but two big-time parades to see, since Bacchus is the usual Sunday night parade on Mardi Gras weekend. The result was a huge turnout last night, which had to look encouraging from a city recovery standpoint.
M and I went into the city on Saturday to see the Tucks parade with M's cousins and their kids. A tradition among the regular Mardi Gras goers is to set up a ladder with a box bolted to the top, which the little kids can sit in and see the parade and catch the beads and such that get thrown. M and her sister did it when they were little, as did her cousins, and now their kids do it too. They looked very cute sitting up on their ladder with their arms in the air, hoping to snag something. You think I got pictures? You bet I did.
After Tucks, there were no more parades, thanks to Endymion getting postponed, so we hung out in M's cousin's scooter rental/shop for a while and watched the kids climb around on the scooters and pretend to drive. The littlest one just pulled beads out of our bead bags. Then M and I went back, chilled, and had gumbo for dinner.
We were going to go see a few Uptown parades yesterday, but first stopped by to visit M's dad's old friend Ron Swoboda (outfielder for the '69 Mets, if I may name-drop). We just ended up staying there the whole time, munching on party food and talking.
Last night, we went to the Bacchus Ball. We got dressed up in our formal wear (I went with a green vest for my tuxedo, because that's a Mardi Gras color) and headed on out for the Convention Center downtown. Traffic, of course, was lousy. For reasons unknown, the cops blocked off the exit to the Convention Center on this side of the river, so we had to cross the river, turn around and cross it again (paying $1 at the toll booth - maybe that's the reason right there) and use the exit coming from that direction. Good thing we had left early.
We also had to park a few blocks from the entrance to the Ball, a few of those blocks being other parts of the Convention Center itself. As we were walking along the non-Ball portion of the Convention Center, I was sure to remind myself that this sidewalk was where misinformed people were living for a few days (weeks?) in August/September while they waited for transportation out of town that never came because there had never been a plan to pick anyone up at the Convention Center.
The Ball was pretty good. Michael Keaton was this year's Bacchus and led the parade atop his mighty Bacchus float. I didn't get as many beads as last time, but that's OK, since you have to put all that stuff somewhere anyway. Willie Nelson was the featured entertainment, which didn't really lend itself to boogying down, but it wasn't bad either. Sean Astin and Elijah Wood were both there as former Bacchuses (Bacchi?).
Today, we're going back to Mr. Po-Boy and then into the city to see Orpheus. That's all there is today, parade-wise, since it's a work day. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras and two more parades (I think). Then I fly home. This will probably be my last post from New Orleans.
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