The rain was coming down this afternoon, but that didn’t mean I was getting off my bike.  We just got back together, you know.  So I bought a $3 poncho from the bargain store and just rode around, running various errands and enjoying the cool weather.  Fall changes everything, my friends.  I stopped on Freret near Louisiana to chat with S. (I can’t ride and talk on the phone at the same time) and noticed this sandy puddle forming from the rain, water flowing from the crack up top down to the bottom.  That greenish algae indicates to me that this isn’t just a rain puddle, but in fact one of the many places on the streets in this town where water just bubbles up from below.  The sewer/water system in New Orleans is notoriously bad.  It hasn’t been updated in any significant way in almost one hundred years.  I might be misremembering, but something like 40% of the water that goes through the system each day is lost to leaks.  We don’t ordinarily see the leaks because the pipes are under ground.  We can remain oblivious to what’s going on beneath our feet until we stumble across one of these little reminders.  Today I saw this, saw its beauty, and then saw a future where tough decisions will have to be made.  That depends, of course, on a present-ing memory that doesn’t lapse into forgetfulness the first chance it gets.