I rode home from work shivering in the slightly chilly weather (I need a cold weather haberdasher–I’m terrible at dressing myself once it drops below 70!) along Loyola through Central City. The asphalt is really, really nice in that neighborhood, but it doesn’t exactly look like a neighborhood that would have newly paved roads. It’s a delight for the cyclist, that’s for sure. I stopped near Marengo to take a picture through the locked fence of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) Tennis Center that is being rehabbed, I think, to offer an Uptown tennis facility to Uptown New Orleans. It feels oddly out of place, this tennis center. I think I have an idea that tennis is for rich people, and this isn’t a rich people’s neighborhood. Now, of course all kinds of people play tennis. But I have these early associations of tennis with the kids who lived in the Highlands and went to the Country Club to play tennis and swim in a private pool. I hated those kids. But heck, maybe it’s time to get over it. Everybody should get to play tennis. I bet it’s fun. Of course, this place isn’t open yet, so this is all idle chatter. But there are a lot of other activities sponsored by NORD, from football and swimming lessons to theater and dance. I wouldn’t have thought to check that resource except that I rode my bike past here and wondered what was behind the gate. Another win for the bicycle!