Ain't gonna get no better

I've been fighting an awful cold and also wrestling with the best way to tell this story. For the moment and for the purposes of this blog, however, I'll explain a bit, add a couple additional photos and then stick with the audio slideshow I posted a couple of days ago.

Of course Molly got a flat tire and we didn't get around to fixing it until about 7 p.m. on Monday, when we were due back in Jacksonville the following day (I had an MRI scheduled for 6:45 a.m.!) because if not, it wouldn't have been an adventure. And, of course*, the only place open was this used tire place on Felicity Ave. that we drove past twice before realizing that it was the place the mechanic at the closing auto shop across town had recommended if Wal-mart couldn't help us out, which, not having a tire dept, it turned out they couldn't.



Directly across the street from the tire place was Greater Full Gospel Church, where Pastor "Dr." Leonard Banks sat preaching the good word into a microphone to be amplified down the entire block. In the 20 or so minutes we were around, most of the people I saw just walked on by and ignored him. I even talked to one person who said he usually avoids this street when they're outside preaching. But there was one man you'll see in the slideshow, head leaned back against the passenger seat in a pick-up truck listening to the sermon and looking totally at peace.

I recorded audio most of the time we were waiting to get the car fixed, but decided to track this with a clip I recorded while we walked to the ATM around the corner (cash-only, of course, of course). You'll hear sounds from the tire shop, of us and other people walking on the sidewalk, and of the Pastor, who was very kind and welcomed us, blessing me over his intercom several times for taking pictures and asking that I photograph his sign. Listen closely about 11 seconds from the end and you'll hear a young man walking past us on the sidewalk say, "Beautiful ladies, how y'all doin?" partly because it's NOLA where everyone talks to everyone and partly because we are such beautiful ladies...





I'm pretty happy with the slideshow given the quite limited amount of time I had to shoot and gather audio. Next time in New Orleans, I'd love to go more in-depth with this story. For example, I would have loved an interview with the pick-up truck churchgoer, but not enough to interrupt the sermon. He looked too much at peace, and we were running late.

Molly's tiny, fixed car, ready for our drive back to Jacksonville.


*If you wonder why I say 'of course' regarding these things, you should try traveling more often.