Where I come from, if it's a rainy day then it's a miserable day. It will rain or at least be gloomy and unhappy all day. That's not quite the way it rains in New Orleans.
I was scouting out South Galvez Avenue today to ascertain where the Deutsches Haus is located. Today is Volksfest. "Is Whalehead King German?" you ask. Only partially and many generations removed from the Rhine and the Ruhr. "Does Whalehead King speak German?" Only a smattering of nouns with no attention to gender and any German baby can conjugate a verb more intelligibly than I can. "What's the attraction to New Orleans' Deutsche Gesellschaft?" I have my inscrutable reasons.
I found the address, but it was early yet so I decided to head back through the Vieux Carre since I haven't been to the French Quarter yet during my stay. On Rue Royal it started to rain out of the blue. Luckily there are plenty of awnings and I took shelter under one for the ten minutes the torrential downpour lasted.
The sky was clear again and I headed on my merry way. Then it rained again. Then again. Then it really started to pour for more than just a few minutes at a stretch and taking temporary shelter while the thunderheads passed stopped being an option. I pulled into a dry port and did my laundry.
For those who don't know of a particularly wonderful Crescent City institution, there are several places on St. Charles Avenue and elsewhere that are 24 hour bars, game rooms and laundromats. I didn't patronize one of these. The storms really started pouring around two o'clock and that's too early for my Blue Law nature to hang out in a taproom. I did my laundry at a more prosaic location with a bunch of other people who kept looking out the window wondering if the rain would let up.
It's 4:20 and still no sunshine in sight. Luckily, I found a coffee house and I'm sitting on the sidewalk under an awning enjoying the temperature. I'm not enjoying the weather's other aspects, however. Maybe the clouds will break later. Either way, life goes on. It can't all be exploring marvels, can it?
This is a 7:00PM edit: It's been raining unremitting buckets for hours. A drear day indeed.
7:15 update: The sun is out. I'm off on the Ninja to enjoy the night.
7:16: False alarm. I'm still signing off till tomorrow.
2 comments:
I really hope you made it to Volksfest because I see in the TP that the center is being torn down because it is in the area where the new hospital will be built.
One of my happiest discoveries about New Orleans rain is that it is practically never cold rain. I have ridden my bicycle home in a drizzle or shower or even a downpour many times (probably not a good idea with a motorized version).
I probably wouldn't have minded as much on a bicycle and if I weren't living out of a suitcase at the moment. As it is, I didn't make it. I see they are having a campaign to Save the Haus! I don't know if it's successful or not, but I will soon enough.
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