At The Columns

Well I finally did it went to New Orleans this weekend, or should I say last weekend as it was a couple of days ago. We went Saturday, there were four of us Me, Mike, Chris and Jay, Mikes from Middlesbrough, Chris and Jay are both Americans and sort of showed us round the city a bit.
When you drive into the city you can still see lots of devastation and construction still going on trying to get things back to normal after the hurricane.
Drove past the super dome where all the people were trapped a couple of years ago, didn’t get a photo of it though as you cant stop and was passed it before I even thought of asking someone else to take one.
Going into New Orleans we travelled through a couple of really rough areas, good job it was daylight, think going through at night would have been a bit different, defiantly no stopping at traffic lights and keeping the doors locked.
Before we went to the French quarter stopped at a hotel called the Column’s on of the oldest hotels around apparently it use to be a tobacco plantation house. http://www.thecolumns.com/ We had what they call a Mint Julep there, apparently it’s what Southerners used to drink and sort of rivals a gin and tonic as we know it, cant say I was that impressed Bourbon and mint not really my thing, but there you go.

The two photos above show the outside of the Columns hotel and just looking up the street. The one below is of us all sitting at the bar, Mike the guy from Middlesborough is the one at the front he's only 25 fits right between Ben and Joe my eldest and youngest. The one on the right is yours truly on the way out of the hotel after the Mint Julep.

After leaving the Column’s headed for the French quarter as it was starting to get a little dark, wanted to get some photos before it was real dark.

These photos are after we parked and were our first view of Bourbon Street

First thoughts were that it was not very crowded and was not unlike a lot of main streets in the UK, if fact New Orleans is the closest to a European city i have seen since i have been here, at least in the French Quarter, but guess it would be with a name that had French in it.

Am going to post this part of the blog now as i have quite a few more photos to add and it will probably be too big and am getting fed up of adding photos right now.

The Local

Was working this Saturday and was planning on going to new Orleans the next day, went for a drink down at Jackie O’s Saturday night, it’s the local bar and bistro in Diamondhead. Not eaten there yet but am told the food is good, and they have Karaoke on Thursday nights, although it was on Saturday this week so what could be better.

Jackie O's and a view across the street, it's just in a bit of a shopping Mall, you probably can't see but all the buildings are new because they were knocked down during the hurricane.
Decided that New Orleans is better to be seen on a Saturday, so with a bit of luck me and a guy from Middlesbrough with a couple of the locals to show us around are going in the next week or two.
Michele who’s from Middlesbrough and been to New Orleans before made me laugh. I asked him what it’s like as it got a bit of a bad rap now crime wise after the hurricane, he said it reminded him of Middlesbrough on a Saturday night not quite sure if that’s good or bad.
That was pretty much Saturday over, now it’s Sunday. Decided to go over to Wal-Mart as I needed some things for work, just got my site office but I came without furniture and I need a fridge and things like that.
Decided to go there and while there check out the outlet Mall which is just over the road for any good deals. Had seen the outlet Mall the last time I was driving that way so knew where to go. These Outlet Malls are pretty good if you like that kind of thing, can get some pretty good deals, lots of shops like Nike, THilfiger, Polo, Banana Republic and the like. Not sure I have any room in my cases to buy more cloths or if i need any but maybe I can throw some old ones away or ship some back, will have to think about it.

Not much to look at but the out let Mall was all painted yellow and reminded me a bit of Disney Land, not that I've ever been there

Done the shopping thing got what I wanted, decided that as I was over this way would go to the casino again, which was pretty much in the same town.
Went to the Hard Rock casino again then went to a new on called the Beau Rivage, they’re fairly close to each other. Apparently before the hurricane casinos in Mississippi had to be on the water, basically on big barges, didn’t move just a loophole to get round the law, they all got wrecked during the storm though. After that they changed the law, casinos can now be land based but must be within about 50 foot of the water.
Didn’t seem so many people gambling to day but did watch some of the games, lots of money changing hands, lot of people just sat there playing slot machines, maybe it’s me but can’t see the attraction, I know you can win a lot of money but it’s not for me.

The two above are in the Hard Rock, the jackpot on the bandits looked good to me, never heard of Fortune Pai Gow though. There are a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese around, guess they are catering for the clientel.

The other two are in the Beau Rivage, they even have machines built into the bar that you can play while having a drink

Took this on the way home just because i like the look of Harley's, bit dark but there were three, about $60,000 worth

Am pretty much up to date with this blog now well at least for a while, am actually going to write about something on the day I post, today Monday the 17th. As I said earlier got my site trailer now, and literally just up the road form the trailer 50yds is a small sort of puddle/bog type hole, was walking past earlier today and look what I saw, had to go back and get the camera but just laying there a little alligator.

Highway To New Orleans

Went to New Orleans on Saturday to extend the rental on my car, was a bit of a disaster was planning on going into town afterward but left it pretty late. It took me a lot longer at the car rental place as well, came away with a different car, well a guess technically not a car it was a 4 wheel drive Jeep. Realised as soon as I started driving it that it was heavy on petrol, good job its cheep over here, at 15mpg in town it needs to be. Petrol or gas as they call it here is running about $2.60/gallon, every American thinks it’s expensive but every Britt thinks it’s cheap.
It was getting pretty late and dark when I left the rental place so thought I would give New Orleans a miss until next time, I wanted to take some photos when I got there and it was too dark.

Took these two photos when i was crossing the bridge into New Orleans. It's a bit of a strange feeling as on both side there is water and the bridge i was on was hit pretty hard by Katrina, the one next to it was knocked down, they are just rebuilding it now.

So off I drove back to Diamondhead which is probably about 80 miles from New Orleans.
Got back and decided to check out the local bar (Jackie Os) ended up staying there all night, too

many beers, did get talking to some of the

local who all seemed pretty nice.

Arranged to try and go to New Orleans again the next day, Sunday, got up pretty late though and just did not feel like it, had a really lazy day doing nothing, just eating and watching TV.

This is the new car, don't really like it and it's heavy on petrol like i said, and I'm doing an average of 80 miles a day just back and forward from work. Think i will try and change it again next weekend, means another trip to New Orleans as long as I'm not at work, if I'm not working I'll get up earlier this time and get going.

Am about 6 days late posting this and nearly another week has gone by, pretty uneventful except today got to work and were told that to expect a lot of rain and some pretty heavy winds for Hurricane Humberto that made landfall last night on the border of Texas and Mississippi. All day was spent battening down the hatches, moving things inside that could blow away, apparently it can get pretty windy even on the very outskirts of these hurricanes.

The photo on the right doesn't really do the clouds justice but they were really dark and moving our way, with lots of thunder and lightning as well.

Oh one more thing on site we have snakes and spiders, poisonous ones that is. There's black widow spiders around but every time i try and get a photo of one, someone kills it before i get there.

Don't see snakes very often, in fact I've never seen one but they are there. Someone saw a cotton mouth this morning, sort of a cousin of the rattle snake i think. Have told everyone i want to get some photos so hopefully will get some soon.

Another Week Gone

Another week gone, I’m not working this weekend so will have to think of somewhere to go, something to do. Do need to go over to New Orleans airport on Saturday though to extend the rental on my car, don’t know why you can’t do it over the phone, maybe that’s why Dollar rent a car was such a good price who knows.

















Like I say another week has shot past, been here a month on Sunday, seems like no time at all.
Not much has been happening at work, well plenty has been going on but worth talking about.
Stennis has a visitor centre and does tours, went round it and took a couple of photos, which you can see.

Don't think the guy on the one the underneath was supposed to park there but you just can't tell these astronauts a thing.

Also a couple of shots looking for the top of the test stand we are working on out over the Stennis site, told you it was big.

See the thing sticking out of the trees in the one underneath, it's where they test the engines for the space shuttle.

Here’s a box of tea bags, went all over Slidell to get these. Took me about an hour to find the place I was told to go, box of 40 costs about three times the price of the UK but well worth it, guess whoever is importing them is making a fortune. Sad I know but i was just pleased to find them, simple things give simple pleasures, it’s real nice to get up in the morning and have a cup of tea before going to work. Everyone over here drinks coffee and eats doughnuts for breakfast.

Just had to take the one on the right, just like the look of these trucks.
Anyway like I say got to go to new Orleans Saturday which is tomorrow to extend the rental on my car, am thinking I will take a look in town on my way back.

Beaches and Casinos

Well been in my place at Diamondhead for a week now, it’s the weekend again, not much has happened at work that anyone would be interested in, so am not going to talk about it.
It’s Friday night and I’m going out to meet some guys in Slidell, where I’m going is sort of Slidell’s answer to the French quarter in New Orleans, except there’s only about four bars, so am not sure about that. Meeting them in a bar called the Tavern (a normal name), that’s if I can find it of course, never been there before.
Took my camera but forgot to take any pictures except for this one, it’s a view on the inside of the bar, will take more photos the next time, that is if I go again.

Feeling a bit rough Saturday so didn’t really go anywhere, did my washing and cleaned up the apartment instead, how sad is that.

It’s Sunday now and I’ve decided to see what the beaches are like in Gulfport, it's about 20 miles away from Diamonhead, the other direction to Slidell.

Gulf port, Diamondhead and Stennis are in Mississippi, Slidell is in Louisiana, bit of a geography lesson there.

Hears some shots of the beaches in Gulfport, was told they were not very good but the sand looks nice and white to me.

Went for a bit of a walk along the beach, not very many people around thought and not really built up, there was quite a few people out on Jet skies though.

Don't ask me what the blue oil drums on the beach are for but they were all over, maybe for rubbish or clearing up after the hurricane. It says 4 stroke on them if you look closer though no idea what that means.

The photo on the left shows there's still plenty of work to be done to get everything fixed up after Katerina. Just had the two year anniversary of the storm the other day, can't believe it's two years ago already.

Decided to get back in the car and drive along the front a bit further, the road goes on right around the coast. After about 7 or 8 miles came to a place called Biloxi, look what was round the corner.

So i parked up and went into the Hard Rock Casino Biloxi, very nice it was too.

The Casino is right on the quay side, and you'll see from a photo later, really susceptible to storms

This is right at the back of the casino, it's almost built on the water.

As you go inside the first thing you see is sort of a collection of rock memorabilia. The one underneath is going through to the gaming floor, don't know who the bloke is he just walked round the corner as i was taking the shot.

The photo underneath to the left is of a guitar that was on the wall of the original casino before the hurricane struck, and was fished out of the Gulf of Mexico later. Apparently the original Casino was band new and had not opened, a couple of nights before opening day the hurricane struck and pretty much destroyed it. The casinos were almost the first thing to be built back after the storm, i wonder why, they say money talks.

Took this one on my way home after a couple of drinks and checking out the gambling.

Diamondhead

Have been in and out of hotels for the last week, trying to find some where to stay long term. Been told about some Condos (apartments to us) over in a place called Diamondhead (another great name) it's about 25 miles from Slidell where I've been staying, am going over there today (24th Sep) to have a look and see what they're like.

Got over there and everything looks good, they're a bit out in the middle of nowhere, on a big golf course complex with a huge housing estate around it but not a lot else, if you liked golf they would be great.

Another good thing is they're a real good price, not the best possible price but good, will have to learn to use the washing machine though.

Have decided to take one when i get back this Monday, am driving up to Tullahoma this weekend and will move in when i get back.

Wow the weekend went quick, I've just moved into my new place at Diamondhead, this is the view as you through the front entrance.

This a view of the inside, I'm on the second floor and the two views below are looking out from the front and the rear balcony's. Notice the golf cart on the one on the right this is from the front and straight onto a putting green.

Al N Me

This is me an Al, called him that as I'm not very imaginative.



Al's about a five foot alligator, don't think that's very big as alligators go, he doesn't move a lot and mostly looks like a log. He lives a couple of hundred yards from where I'm working but came out of the water when we got there because he though we were going to feed him some chicken.



Hears Al a bit bigger, if you look closer you can see the chicken bones near him, at least i hope they're chicken bones.