After years of stagnant wage growth, rising living costs people in England and Wales have an average of just Â£7,780 in savings, according to figures from Halifax. Rising costs: The average cost of a funeral as risen by 80 per cent since 2004.
The first Mardi Gras festivities in Louisiana were held on March 3, 1699. On that day, a group of French explorers set up camp on the west bank of the Mississippi River, about 60 miles downriver from what is now New Orleans.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS. 1  Mobile, Alabama, says the city's first Mardi Gras celebration was in 1703. 2  Mobile claims it introduced the celebration to New Orleans years later. 3  The first recorded Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans was in 1837.