Just Another Night in the Vieux Carre

So there I was sitting in Ryan’s (modestly self-proclaimed jolly good hostelry - see accompanying picture), minding my own business, quaffing a pint of ale, when suddenly an air assault began…  At least, that’s what it sounded like.

A deafening, sphincter-stimulating roar drowned out all conversation and other pub-related noises, as a large number of enormous, matte-black helicopters flew over the place, at roof-top level, with no lights on at all, no less!

The reactions of my fellow imbibers reflected their own life experiences (legal and illegal), and mental states, and were rather interesting to note (cowering, disappearing out the door in a split-second, open-mouthed curiosity, cursing belligerence, etc.). 

For my part, I demonstrated the phlegmatic, stiff-upper-lipped, sang-froid of an Englishman, of course, continuing to sip my pint while the noise grew overwhelmingly loud and then finally began to ebb, the choppers eventually passing overhead to cause havoc in other parts of the French Quarter.

But it was not until a couple of weeks later that the local newspaper informed the populace that it had been an unannounced, special operations, urban warfare training exercise, conducted just after the Boston Marathon bombings, using unlit Blackhawks and other unnamed, sophisticated weaponry. 

Just another night in The Quarter – laissez les bontemps rouler y’all…

GRAK