The secret life of beads

摘要

Surefooted indeed was the man able to walk through the Irish Channel, a district in New Orleans, late in the afternoon of March 16th without falling over. The St Patrick's Day parade had meandered through the area, leaving a mess in its wake. Closest to the ground, lubricating the asphalt, was, naturally, an ocean of spilled beer. Then came a patchy carpet of cabbage leaves (marchers in the parade toss cabbages and potatoes to spectators). And finally, in the streets and the gutters, on the necks of revellers and hanging from trees like Spanish moss on lsd, was the legacy of any parade in New Orleans: strings of brightly coloured plastic beads.