Shokufeh is... home

Not just a problem in the French Quarter

The garbagemen probably had a bit of a chuckle, maybe a grumble, when they got to our house this morning. They hefted up the garbage can, tipped it over, and out came... nothing.
Anyone who keeps abreast of New Orleans news knows that garbage cans have been an issue of late. Someone had the bright idea of automated garbage pickup: specially outfitted trucks that pickup specially designed cans. What they didn't take into account was the design of most houses and properties in the city. These are some big garbage cans and have to be placed in, or right at, the street. Most people don't have a convenient place to store them, an easy way to roll them to the curb, or a good place to set them for pick up. Street parking, anyone?

We are lucky in that we have a relatively big property, so there's space to store the garbage can. And very few people park on the street in our block, so finding a space to set the can isn't a huge ordeal other. But getting the can to to the curb can be problematic, as there isn't really enough room to roll it down the driveway once the cars are parked. So our solution is to pause in parking so that one of us can get the can down the driveway before the cars are parked for the evening. Last night, an empty can was rolled out to the curb. There were plans to fill it before we turned in to the night. But there were distractions, and empty it stayed.