Travels in a Tin Can

People on the street were already drinking and the area had a heady aroma
of dope, stale beer, and horse dung.
We returned to Bourbon Street an hour or so later after taking care of
some top priority housekeeping for the next day...booking a meal. By night
this part of town was much wilder and seemed to be the only populated street
in New Orleans. We headed straight to a bar where live jazz was being played
as we had been told that this was a 'must do' while visiting. What people had
failed to mention was that in order to try this activity we would need a second
mortgage.
On entering the jazz parlour the first sign we saw noted that you must
buy a drink per set the band plays. This was not overly surprising so we
ordered and sat back to enjoy the music. A few minutes later two things
happened to destroy our good mood. First the drinks arrived with the bill:
$16.75 (about £10) for a bacardi and coke and a vodka martini. Expensive
enough, but the bill also had a 20% suggested gratuity already added on - not
a very subtle suggestion and one we were too embarrassed to ignore. The
second thing that happened was the band went on a break about five minutes
after we sat down. There was no way that we were going to buy another drink
in a hurry so we nursed the ones we had for an hour and listened to most of
their next set. In the meantime we were presented with three further
opportunities to lighten our wallet. First a band member circulated selling CDs,
and then another came round with a tip jar, and finally a strange old man
walked in selling praline treats from a wicker basket - catering for the
munchies. Costs aside it was actually quite an enjoyable hour and the band,
the New Orleans Jazz Vipers seemed good – at least to my untrained ear.