New Orleans

[Blaise (imported)]

Blaise-

First off... You change your avatar more often than a french man changes his underwear.

I spent a week in NO last summer on business. The heat was suffocating, as was the humidity. Any time I think that it is too hot here in Los Angeles, reflect on that time spent in NO.

The thing that you did not comment about was the people. I found them to be some of warmest, most open, and caring people I have ever met. EVERYONE says hello, and smiles at you when they say it. They hold doors open. and seem like they are laughing all the time.

Additionally, they are some of the fattest people I have ever seen. I am a fat guy, and I felt skinny the whole time I was there. Every other man was wearing a searsucker suit (look it up),and they looked great in them even if they were 500 pounds. The ladies all seemed elegant and slightly more formal than I am used to, but were always charming.

I am regret that I was only able to spend a week there. I would love to go back during a cooler season. What a lovely city filled with lovely people...

I wrote a long response to your kind post but lost it. Thank you for the compliments. Think Haspel suits!

When I first came to Louisiana, leisure suits were de rigueur. Legislators wore them. The suits and those who wore them appalled me, but for many years classic Haspel suits have returned to style. Haspel suits come in many glorious styles. Seersucker almost keeps the wearer cool. I had a doctor in New Orleans named Haspel. I don’t know if he was part of the family. Now I think that the company belongs to a large firm. Their suits are beautiful.

New Orleans sometimes has cold weather. I recall one cold Christmas Eve services and some cold Mardi Gras parades. But we also often enjoy pleasant moments in the middle of the winter. I don’t think our summer weather is worst than weather in Boston or Washington. But I confess that people I know who lived in hot places like South Georgia found the city’s sultriness exhausting. Rooms with high ceilings and fans help. The streetcars are cool and I never figured out why.

New Orleans has a well earned reputation for good manners. Women are often elegant. Men are often gracious. I love the greetings and smiles.

However, be forewarned that New Orleans muggers are brutal and the police are even meaner. The mayor of Daytona Beach was mugged on the same street at Commander’s Palace and the police took a long time to respond. People I know were mugged in my uptown neighborhood. I was mugged in the middle of the day near the courts.

The police cost the city in lawsuits--lost lawsuits. People die from falling bullets at New Years and thugs do shoot people in the face during Mardi Gras.

But it hard not to love the place. I don’t exactly know why, but I love it. I don't know any place quite like it. But I also liked La Jolla, Portland, and Manhattan.

We are fat. Louisiana is a state for fat people. What can I say?

What can I say about avatars? Give a kid a toy and put up with him playing with it.

Thank you for visiting us. Please do come again.