I am listening to Christmas music at Liuzza’s-by-the-Track. They were hanging lights in the spirit of the season so the waitresses put on the Christmas station. I am told we are not going to subjected to Christmas music around the clock for the rest of the month. Liuzza’s-by-the-Track is not Ralph’s on the Park.
My Vespa is on the fritz. I feel like Ed with that crummy motor scooter he has that is always on the Fritz. My Vespa turns 20 years old next month. I got it, what? Two years ago? It had 800 miles on its odometer when I purchased it. I got a good deal.
I paid less than $3000 for my current Vespa. It is the best $3000 this easy rider has ever spent. I get a hundred miles to the gallon. Two wheels set one free.
This Vespa now has 13,000 miles on it. Except for the 1600 miles I clocked on my trip to Birmingham, Alabama and back, 97 percent of those miles have been traveled in New Orleand city limits. The furthest I have gone in the past two years is, maybe, as far as the mall in Jefferson Parish. That is not very deep in that parish. It is nothing like going to Grand Isle.
There is even less for me at Grand Isle than there is for me at the mall. In New Orleans, life is what we make of it. Happiness loves company.
We are all in this levee-walled bowl together.
City sidewalks are busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style. There is a feeling of Christmas in the air. Children are laughing and people passing meet smile after smile. On every street corner of New Orleans you hear improvisation.
Have you ever used a neti pot?
Keep those cards and letters coming, folks.
The ladies at Liuzza’s-by-the-Track are surprised to see this creature of the afternoon after dark. Mrs. King is out of town. Mr. King is on the prowl. Tomboy is in the kitchen. I am looking at Delancey as I write this and sitting next to somebody who really irks Vincent.
This irksome guy is like Vincent and I, a local character, a fixture in the community. He and Vincent do not get along. I do not care about this guy one way or the other. We have crossed paths but we have not crossed swords. We sat hello but that is about all. We address each other as sir, so there is that.
Formality spells out rules and obligations to reduce confusion. It is like etiquette. Familiarity can breed contempt but it can also breed respect.
It is very good to live in New Orleans.
I will tell you more in a moment. Every moment of pleasure in life is accompanied by a moment of pain.