In my younger days, eons ago it seems, I was a night owl. My last semester at the University of Miami rarely saw me going to bed before seven or eight in the morning and the school’s schedule and mine didn’t mesh.
Say what you will about New York, L.A. or Las Vegas, New Orleans (The Big Easy, The Big Sleazy, The City That Care Forgot) is a night owl’s nirvana. You NEVER left your house to go out carousing before 11 p.m. or midnight. Bars open 24 hours a day. Attending a Dr. John session at Tipitina’s that broke up at 7:30 in the morning. I loved watches out at sea from 4 to 6 in the morning and watching things take shape as the sun drove out the night.
But things have changed. Up here on the hill I can’t seem to sleep past 6 a.m. and this morning I was up at five and sitting on the porch with my steaming mug of coffee listening to roosters crowing from all points of the compass and cattle mooing on the other side of the trees on the east side of the field. But I’m nostalgic for those years I thrived in the night. I posted this video by the group Vaya Con Dios last October but it’s worth a repeat.
One More Good Adventure 
Hi Richard:
Man! What a band! I’d dance till six o’clock with a red-haired lady like this one anytime. Of course I’ll need to rub my legs with Mentholatum in order to shake the skeleton.
Great piece of music. Thank you.
Omar.-
It’s a good thing your wife doesn’t speak English so she can’t read your incriminating comment, Oscar. If you clicked my link to the earlier post you’d know her name is Dani Klein and how I found out about them. The group isn’t American. They’re from Belgium!!! And I agree with you. I’d also dance with the back up singers after I’d worn Dani out.,
This is the first song of theirs and the one that got me hooked on the group.
Ah, the changes wrought by time…
When I think about those all-nighters – whether for studying or partying – I hardly can believe it. Of course, now the night is the only time that’s really “mine”, so I’m turning back into more of a night owl. Such a shame that sleeping in isn’t an option!
My time in Spain was my first experience of an entire culture that lives by a different clock – where I came from, dinner at 10 p.m. would have been almost sinful. 😉
Oh yes, the 10 p.m. dinner time. When I first moved to France I had a bit of a problem adjusting to their 8 p.m. dinner time but adapted well. But when we moved the boat to Puerto Banus in Spain pushing things back another two hours was really rough. It was hard enough getting served at 9 let alone eight. Another thing that took me some time to adjust to in France was the two hour lunch, but upon returning to the States after more than four years abroad the half hour lunch seemed to be a throwback to a Dickensian work house atmosphere. Half-hour lunches are cruel, heartless and totally non-conducive to civilized living and any company that forces its employees to endure this inanity are little better than sweat shops.