The Trolley of Knowledge

While traveling, one learns many things. On my last trip, many of the things I learned were discovered on the first day. (Not day 0, the day of travel, although I learned things then too.) Many things were just waiting to be found, all I had to do was keep my eyes open.

It didn't hurt that I was in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Or at least it assisted my learning.

That morning, upon awaking, it was decided that we were going for a trolley ride. Not really to see anything, but we had a couple of hours to waste, and it was something to do. So do it we did. Bundled up (jeans and a light jacket; it was cold!) and headed out.

Lesson #1, don't take a trolley 3 blocks. Just walk. It's faster. For we boarded a trolley to make our way to the connection which we were planning on riding to the end of the line. We waited a good quarter-hour at the stop, only to ride for about ten minutes and pay an extra quarter a head for a transfer. At least we didn't just miss our connection.

Lesson #2, beads are not manufactured. This is apparently a common misconception, but by being in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, one can see how beads actually form. Instead of being manufactured, they apparently are grown in strands on trees. For lining the entire street are these trees devoid of anything but strands of all sorts of beads. Thankfully this means you can get all sorts of beads from a single tree, and thus bead-trees are much nicer than fruit-trees for people with a tiny back yard.

Lesson #3, people are dumb. Which I really knew before, but it's always good to be reminded that the world still works the way that we're all expecting it to. As the trolley made its way down the road, we ground to a halt. The driver opened her window and yelled onto the track in front of her.

"Lady, get your kid off the track!" The lady glares at the trolley but reluctantly collects her meandering offspring allowing the trolley to proceed past. And as we go by, you can just hear her muttering.."You /could/ have gone around."