Only in New Orleans

It was just above freezing this morning and raining. Nasty Friday morning. I would not have been going into Wal-Mart had I not been in desperate need of kitty litter. (My slogan, coined back in the day when Busch had a similar one -- "When you're out of Busch, you're out of beer,"
is "When you're out of kitty litter, you're out of kitty litter.")

So I push my cart in out of the near-freezing rain, throw back the hood of my coat, and blink. Right in front of me, a band is parading down the main aisle of Wal-Mart to a familiar Mardi Gras tune. Drums, brass, the whole nine yards. Behind the band is the school mascot, dressed as a Revolutionary War patriot. And then the girls in their dance outfits, and then the cheerleaders. And following them, several Wal-Mart associates with strings of Mardi Gras beads looped over their arms, tossing beads to the customers.

I have to wait for the parade to pass to enter the store. The band circles the main aisles of the store twice. Did I mention the weather? It wasn't very crowded in Wal-Mart this morning. But everyone who was there was smiling. And, like me, calling someone on their cell phones so they could hear the band too.

It's not just any Friday. It's the Friday before Mardi Gras. In an ordinary year, this is the day when work in the city slams to a halt and the partying begins. But, as you know, this is no ordinary year. The partying in New Orleans started last Friday, and it hasn't stopped since. The Saints have won the Super Bowl!

Only in New Orleans. A Mardi Gras parade in Wal-Mart.

P.S. The mid-South and the mid-Atlantic have been slammed with snow for the last week. New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, even Mobile have seen snow -- and some cities have set records for overall snowfall. Why are you surprised? When hell freezes over, there's going to be a little overlap!