At The Parade Last Night

Best sign I saw last night at the Corps D' Napoleon parade for the float riders who were tossing goodies to the spectators- "Throw me something mister, it's my birthday." Haha people try many things to get an advantage in catching them. Some parents build seats on top of ladders to position their little children better so float riders will toss them throws. Some people bring fishing nets or circular targets that tempt the float riders to throw toward them. And many people run along side of the floats (yes, adults do it too) as they pass to better catch the beads and other "stuff.
Last night we caught mostly beads, but also some candy a stuffed animal, a frisbee, and various trinkets of all sort, useless monetarily but treasures when lunging to a catch them. One clown on a clown truck gave Jane a balloon head dress he made as the truck passed. I especially liked the 8 or so music wagons that had jazz musicians (and one Cajun band) who played as they passed. The Corps Napoleon is the only carnival krewe named after a French person or thing that parades in my area, probably because it is younger krewe and had few Greek or Roman mythological names left from which to choose. One great myth some have tried to perpetrate is that Mardi Gras is a French invented idea. But it's good to have this one, as the look of the parade is different from the others, mostly 19th century as opposed to mythological. I quizzed Jane and her friend on Napoleon and his achievements, but they knew little beyond who her was and where he came from. I am sure they would have preferred me to shut up, but a parade is a great places to "teach" about such things.
Haha Now they know such arcane information as the crippling hemorrhoid problem Napoleon suffered with for much of his life. I am a people watcher...no a people observer. I find the crowd to be as interesting as the event, and last night I saw another smaller than normal crowd (the hurricane effects) a well behaved crowd (as it almost always is), and a crowd that less animated than usual, New Orleans are a tired and weary ot now, having been psychologically impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Most distressing sight- a teenager with T shirt that exposed an obscene phrase. I saw no police officer last night where we were watching the parade, but had I seen one I would have shown him the teen. How can a parent let a child attend a family event with a blatantly vulgar T shirt. I think most police would have arrested the boy or apprehended him and called for the parent to retrieve him, just to find out why the child was dressed that way. Surely, many parents of small children would not want their little, ones exposed to that vulgarity.
Nicest crowd sight seen- an elderly couple, tourists from out of town who were standing next to us. They were reticent and merely observing at first, but after a few units passed I saw them dancing a bit and chasing after throws like a parade veteran. They intended to store their parade booty in pockets of jackets but acquired so many throws they had no place to put them. I gave them a spare throw bag to store their lot and for they thanked me so profusely it seemed I had given them a bag made gold. Anyway, they were as excited during the parade as the children I see at parades.
As for me, I enjoyed the parade, the cool weather and being with my daughter while there