New Orleans, late July

Good things about being back in New Orleans: the blueberries from Pass Christian, MS, which are juicy and delicious. The crepe myrtles in bloom – white and lavender and mauve – sprinkling fallen petals over car roofs and sidewalks. The prospect of going swimming this weekend in Metairie, where our friend Becky has a real pool, or around the corner, where Sarah has installed something inflatable and possibly illegal in her back yard. The students are still away for the summer, so it’s nice and peaceful, apart from the times when the McMain summer drum camp starts rehearsing under the trees … but even that’s not bad, because it reminds me of parade season. (I always miss the endless schoolyard band sessions after Mardi Gras is over.) The fruit cart guy is set up on Napoleon: he always has ripe avocados. Lots of restaurants and bars have specials on right now, because it’s such a quiet time of year.

Annoying things. Hmmm. Yesterday lunchtime, a Cox Communications worker was tinkering with the lamppost outside. Next thing, our cable access is gone. A technician is due to come around this morning, in the approved two-hour window, but this has involved SIX calls so far – one to book the appointment, and the other five to confirm it. One last night, four today. Cox: please stop calling me and JUST COME AND FIX OUR CABLE.

This morning I called the doctor to make an appointment for T. Middy, who managed to get a touch of the old swine flu just before he left the UK. He’s feeling a bit better, but his ears have been blocked for ten days, and he may need antibiotics . No doctor at our local medical clinic can see him until mid-August. That is, almost a month away. I’m so glad we don’t have the evil “socialized medicine” in this country, with its long waiting lists! He’s calling the hospital now to see if he can get an appointment with a specialist. This will cost more – it’ll cost us more, and it’ll cost our insurance more – but what else can he do? Make a doctor’s appointment for a month hence and hope he’s still sick?

At Whole Foods, looking through their lunch salads – which manage to be dispiriting, mundane, and over-priced – and buying ingredients to make pizza, I was told that they will not be stocking pancetta again until the fall, because “nobody buys it in the summer.” I’ve never found pancetta anywhere else in the city. If any NOLA-based reader knows where I can buy this grotesquely unseasonal item, please email me.

The day I was home last week, in between getting back from the UK and flying to New York, a tremendous thunder storm flooded the streets and knocked out power along much of Magazine Street. I picked up TM and his office wife, Trina, so we could go and get some lunch, but everywhere was closed because the power was gone. We ended up at Crabby Jack’s on Jefferson Highway – crossing parish lines to get a delicious shrimp po boy! We would have driven to Houma if necessary: we were hungry.

The traffic lights were out at numerous intersections on St Charles and Magazine long after power had been restored to the neighborhood, which reminded me of the #1 most annoying thing about being back in New Orleans: the drivers. So many of them were speeding through four-way intersections –with no functioning traffic lights – without slowing down, let alone stopping. I understand that it’s impossible for drivers here to ever use indicators, because they need to steer AND make calls and send text messages, and that red lights/stop signs are perceived as an affront to our constitutional right to drive wherever it is we’re going without inconvenient pauses, but still. It makes every journey an adventure, I guess.

The cable guy is here. He tells me they turned off the cable next door yesterday, but the incidents are completely unrelated: this is not the reason our cable disappeared at exactly the same time. Hmmm.

Once he’s gone, I need to take my life in my hands and go out for more blueberries from Pass Christian. You can buy them at Rouse’s. Unlike pancetta, they are seasonal.

Comments

[Dwynn Golden]

Hello. Hope you are settling in to glasgow. guess you will have to change from cajun to indian take out. i am going to new orleans next week (first time)for a conference, sorry you will not be there. can you invite me to your old blog (katrina) i cannot access it. I really liked 'Ruined' by the way. take care, dwynn

[Paula Morris]

Dwynn - thanks for alerting me to the problem with the Katrina posts. Apparently, Babies Are Fireproof is now a private blog, and I can't get access either. I'm working with a friend to move the Katrina posts to a public blog, and will let you know when it happens.

So annoyed that you'll be in New Orleans without me! Let me know if you'd like some recommendations for places to go. Tell me where you're staying, as well.