rebness

It was the UK Bank Holiday today. I had great plans for it, but it mostly revolved around writing and reading pretentious Proust stories in the garden. Oh, well.

The weekend played host to various festivals through Britain, so Mary and I went to have a looksee at the Mathew Street festival in Liverpool. There were the usual things; the Beatles tributes, live Irish music in the bars. We had a drink at The Cavern and met a sweet German tourist who asked us things about the city. Er, that we most didn't know the answers to.

We went to the fayre, as well, and probably sustained severe brain damage from a hellish ride that involved bouncing us up and down extremely quickly, backwards and forwards. Hmph. The European markets were also in Liverpool for the festival, so we sampled Dutch cuisine, French and Italian biscuits and salami, ogled at the gorgeous Spanish guy who was giving out free paella and educating us just how to say "chorizo" properly, and politely turning down a weird concotion at the Swedish stall.

I also managed to pick up Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette for £3.99, as well as some weird old book on symbology in world cultures. I really meant to read a good portion of these books today, but I seem to have done little but sit in the warm sunlight in the garden and check the BBC news for updates on that friggin' hurricane.

The lastest news I've read, from The Guardian, had this to say:

In New Orleans' historic French Quarter of Napoleonic-era buildings with wrought-iron balconies, water pooled in the streets from the driving rain, but the area appeared to have escaped the catastrophic flooding that forecasters had predicted.

On Jackson Square, two massive oak trees outside the 278-year-old St. Louis Cathedral came out by the roots, ripping out a 30-foot section of ornamental iron fence and straddling a marble statue of Jesus Christ, snapping off only the thumb and forefinger of his outstretched hand.

I'm torn between shaking my fist and being extremly grateful in the most selfish way that the French Quarter apparently escaped too much damage. Strangely, all it's done is make me look up flights to NO for next year (£280 from Manchester! Bargain!) and check out hostels there. New Orleans, why are you so tempting even in your er... stormy times?