Les bons temps ne roulent pas

The good times are NOT rolling. The parades are, but for the first time in MANY years, Lil Toni will not be a part of Mardi Gras. My mood is bleak.
My krewe, collectively, decided to cancel, due to insurance troubles. Our floats, papier mached, painted, glittered, and festooned with lights, were reduced to molded hulks of oh-so-much garbage.

I was to have been a "maid"( Mardi Gras royalty) this year. My heavily jeweled, feather-festooned, forty pound mantel, and equally beautiful gown are lost forever; drifting perchance , in a watery grave, washed away by a bitch named "Katrina".

Watching the live coverage is equally depressing. Seeing Carrollton Ave. and Canal St. so sparsely occupied is akin to watching a funeral. Those venues, at this time of day, should be TEEMING with revelers, hellbent in the pursuit of the drunken debauchery that is Mardi Gras.

I've dropped by this spot, once or twice to view the live cams. Bourbon is kickin' a lil, but even that is of little comfort. From the "Bourbon Cam", one can see the balcony that I have occupied EVERY year, for 10 years, on Mardi Gras Day.

I'm missing the heady enthusiasm of the roaring crowds, waving, like royalty, from MY float, or MY balcony, to the throngs below. It's like being a rock star, if only for a few days.

"Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulle" (Let The Good Times Roll)? Not this year, least not for me.