Life after Katrina

As far as I can tell, only one person is reading this blog, and she said she'd like to hear more about life in New Orleans post-Katrina, so that is the topic of this post. For my family, things are so much the same--we weren't flooded and did not sustain major damage to our home, my husband and I are both working in the same jobs we had before we evacuated and my children are back in their schools--yet they are different too. We need some work done on our house, patio and fence, but can't find anyone to do the work anytime soon. Our house is fine, but trailers are popping up in many neighbor's yards, trailers with semi-permanent plumbing and electrical connections indicating they aren't going anywhere soon. My husband and I still have our jobs--but my husband, a salesman, is doing deliveries because they can't sell what they can't deliver, and they are short on delivery people. I have my job, but our office was badly damaged so we are working out of temporary quarters. I'm lucky in that my temporary quarters are across the street from my son's school, many in the firm are driving to Baton Rouge to work. My children are back in their schools, but my daughter's two best friends did not return, nor did her two favorite teachers. My son is in eighth grade and under normal circumstances we would have picked a high school by now; this year that is pushed off until January.

The main thing you hear so many people say in this part of town is that you can't quickly do anything. Traffic is miserable and businesses are only open limited hours, since they can't get employees. Because of the shortage of help, once you are in the store, you have to wait some more. I will say that with more places opening up, some of that is getting better, yet this used to be a 24 hour town. Having fast food places closing at 5 or 7 just isn't right. There is a Popeyes Fried Chicken near here and it causes traffic jams because the drive-thru line is so long. A McDonalds I pass in the morning blocks traffic on a major road, and it looks like you wait in line over ten minutes--for McDonald's breakfast????