Mardi Gras 1985. I lived in Houston and my boyfriend and I drove to New Orleans. We started out very early drinking beer and eating cold boiled shrimp. Somewhere along the way there was face painting. Charlie was carrying a ghetto blaster and his face was painted like a devil. It was a little bit cool that year, and he was wearing a big sweater. We watched parades and caught beads and drank more beer. Later in the crush of the crowd, someone asked me for a Tylenol and I unzipped my carefully secured purse to offer them relief. By the time we crossed the busy crush to get to the other side of the road we had been pickpocketed. For some reason – because I had secured the purse so well – my wallet and Charlie’s were inside. We had nothing! I found a payphone and called the police and they basically laughed. We walked around the corner and I bumped straight into my college boyfriend who I had dumped to be with Charlie! We asked him for some money and he happily loaned $100 to us. We were able to sleep in our car in the 24 hour parking lot and managed gas to get home to Houston! We had a lot of fun, but we also had a lot of anguish and I’ve never been back to New Orleans since.
Mardi Gras 1985. I lived in Houston and my boyfriend and I drove to New Orleans. We started out very early drinking beer and eating cold boiled shrimp. Somewhere along the way there was face painting. Charlie was carrying a ghetto blaster and his face was painted like a devil. It was a little bit cool that year, and he was wearing a big sweater. We watched parades and caught beads and drank more beer. Later in the crush of the crowd, someone asked me for a Tylenol and I unzipped my carefully secured purse to offer them relief. By the time we crossed the busy crush to get to the other side of the road we had been pickpocketed. For some reason – because I had secured the purse so well – my wallet and Charlie’s were inside. We had nothing! I found a payphone and called the police and they basically laughed. We walked around the corner and I bumped straight into my college boyfriend who I had dumped to be with Charlie! We asked him for some money and he happily loaned $100 to us. We were able to sleep in our car in the 24 hour parking lot and managed gas to get home to Houston! We had a lot of fun, but we also had a lot of anguish and I’ve never been back to New Orleans since.
a very good friend once remarked that new orleans can be a magical experience for new folks or punch you in the face. stay long enough and it is both.
I love that. We had so much fun that the punch was just a passing thing! And luck gave us enough support to ride out the bruising. 😊