I come flying off the highway after work on a Friday afternoon, i'm banging down Carondolet Street, in New Orleans' Central Business district. It's a picture perfect spring afternoon, blue skies, a slight breeze and warm afternoon sun. As I park my car, I notice an old man sitting on the sidewalk, soaking up the sun and looking content. He looked very peaceful, sitting quietly, probably listening to the birds. As I paralleled into spot, the old man on the sidewalk came into plain view. He was wearing a green, US Army fatigue jacket, sitting on a small wooden cart with caster wheels, and he had no legs.
My first impression was he was a Vietnam vet. When I got out, I realized that the meters were still running and I didn't have a quarter to pay for parking. Just my luck, i get a sweet spot downtown and I don't have any change for the meter. As I'm standing there in bewilderment, the man reaches out his hand and offers me a Quarter (for the meter). I thanked him, but declined his kind gesture. After all, how was I gonna take a handout from a guy with no legs, sitting on a homemade push cart? After declining his offer a few more times, he unabashedly placed the coin in my hand.
Wish I had a picture of him.
In other news, I'm going to have to switch my lefthandedliving.com setup, because, blogger is no longer doing FTP- file transfer protocol, for uploading posts and pictures to third party servers. It goes into effect May, 1, so i'm going to have to find another editor to do my posts on.
