There are some things that just say New Orleans. Jackson Square has always been a biggie to me, nestling in the heart of the French Quarter. We can talk all we want about things, sites, monuments, food, music, and neighborhoods; but it is the people who make New Orleans great. It is our people who make New Orleans rich...way beyond dollars and cents.
You might never know that if you hop in your car every morning and speed off to wherever you're going with the windows up, the music booming and the air conditioning blasting. With no car, I am always on my bike or on the bus. Yesterday morning's bus ride to Walmart reminded me once more that our people are our wealth.
While waiting a gentleman and I struck up a conversation. We talked about all the buses he'd be taking to get to all the places he needed to go. His car had broken down. He lived in the East. He had just come in on the Broad St. Bus, was picking up the Jackson-Esplanade with me, stopping at St.Jude, picking up the Canal St.-Cemeteries Streetcar so he could take the bus into Jefferson Parish from there. We chatted about: what makes us crazy; family; relationships; where we were from; and, what we did during the storm. By the time the bus got there, he joined me in the same seat and we continued on. When he got off at St.Jude, we teased that maybe we'd run into each other again on the bus!
At Canal Street the bus filled up fast and I got a new seatmate. We said our hellos.The bus didn't get very far and all of a sudden the bus driver is swinging off the route to go around the block to avoid a huge accident. Tooling up Elks Place, the women behind us began talking about the debate and pretty soon all four of us were talking about the election and how scary it can be, but as the women behind us said: "It builds community on the bus!" My seatmate and I began talking about the craziness in the world and in New Orleans specifically. She mentioned something that was on the news. I told her I hadn't seen it since I don't have TV. She almost jumped out of her seat. "You don't have TV! What do you do with yourself?" I giggled and told her that I read a lot, garden, work in my house, plus I work at home, and that I'm a social worker. Between Poydras and Jackson where she got off, she filled me in on some of the problems her son was having. After getting a few more details, I was able to suggest a program she could contact to get him more help. She turned to me as she was getting up and said: "The Lord meant for me to sit in this seat, he sent you to me this morning."
I arrived at Walmart with a smile on my face. As I got off the bus, I teased the bus driver that he should get hazardous duty pay for driving these streets. He was already thinking about detours he was going to have to make on the way back, based on our discoveries on the way in.
Walmart was pretty empty and pretty tame after my bus ride. What a rich and wonderful morning, getting to know some of our people who make New Orleans great!
Try taking the bus sometime...you might be surprised at the richness you discover!
Interesting, yes Bus or local train for that matter is a gift ! funny comment about TV ! Bodil and I don't know how we could get things done if we had TV :) and we had another american friend visiting us here and she was very surprised that we could not drive, thought almost we ought to be able to do it, maybe because she lives out in the country in Virginia ! but we live perfectly without TV and driver license :) next week going to Tromsø and in 2 weeks to SF :) love Niels
Posted by: niels | September 29, 2016 at 05:36 PM