New Orleans Heat Index.

The heat index is something like 110 degrees and I am getting around on my bicycle.  My Vespa is in the shop. I don't want to pedal to Katie's (probably 2.3 miles).  I could take Ursulines, which is shady after Broad Street, but then I have to go along the bayou and there is no breeze today. Bienville Street is fine but, then, I'll have to come back again and do it all in reverse.  It would be nicer if there was a breeze.

Instead, I pedaled a straight shot up live oak-lined Esplanade Avenue (1 mile)  and landed at Liuzza's-by-the-Track.  I was there in a few blinks. Today is a pleasant day.  

The greenhouses in City Park are for winter. This time of year, all of New Orleans is a hothouse outdoors. Look at the heat index. Better yet, feel the heat index. I would not leave a stick of butter on the sidewalk if I were you.

I forgot to tell Python Lady what I was doing. I had thought about telling her, and I was going to, but, before I could, I got distracted by something else. Then, one thing led to another. You know how it goes. Texting Python Lady got lost in the shuffle.

Kerri unlocked the front door for me and I settled into my usual seat at Liuzza’s-by-the-Track to read the Wall Street Journal. Not twenty minutes later I got a text. It was Python Lady. It said, “Ahem…..”

Oh! Shoot! I forgot that I forgot that Python Lady and I had a date with fate today!

I apologized and explained why I had missed it. I blamed the heat index. It was the real reason. I have nothing to hide.

Day-to-day New Orleans is enough of a fever dream as it is. The New Orleans heat index is purgatorial. The New Orleans heat index will make you sweat out your sins. Well, that is true for some people. There is a class of people that are as incurably encourageable.

Starve a fever. Feed a cold. The special at Liuzza’s-by-the-Track today is a hot sausage Scotch egg.

The air-conditioning is just right at Liuzza’s by the track. It is not too hot and it is not too cold. This is because the air conditioning system cannot keep up with the heat index.