In 2004 one year before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans Rachel and I went back for a visit to the town where we lived in 1965 and 1966.
We decided to ride the St. Charles streetcar all the way from Canal Street to the end of the line and back.
She used to take the bus from Canal Street out to Tulane University where she worked in the Howard Tilton library because it was faster. She came home to the French Quarter that way every day also.
The streetcar was too slow for her.
We had not been living down south for close to 40 years and we had not readjusted to the pace of life in The Big Easy. Everything moves slow down there. The Mississippi River moves slow and the St. Charles street car moved slow and it seemed you could walk faster than the streetcar.
The operator stopped and got out and went in a nearby store. He took his friend or trainee with him.
No explanation was given as to their exit or when they might return.
We and the other passengers sat quietly and nobody said anything.
I was delighted. We were back in the city that "Care Forgot".
After 5 or 10 minutes with us sitting in traffic in downtown New Orleans on a stopped streetcar the operator and his friend returned and off we went. It seemed they had gone in that store to get a sandwich. It was New Orleans at its best.No explanation was given. Since this was in the middle of the day or early afternoon I guess they were getting their lunch or dinner.
