A letter in The Times the other day recalled a radio programme where lsiteners were asked to call in with the cruellest lies they had heard. One told how his parents had said that the ice-cream van played music to announce that they had sold out.
We have, recently, had an ice-cream van try his luck in our road but unfortunately no-one bought anything from him so he's given up stopping at this end of the road. Possibly he didn't get any sales because his stopping time didn't give anyone, except the very, very agile, time to find their purse, vacate their house and sprint up the road to where he was waiting. Now he just zooms past, up the hill to the bigger houses at the top who are obviously much more organised.
I'm not fond of modern (post 1959 when Mr Softee & Mr Whippy were born) ice cream. I can still remember Eldorado ice-cream, a small cylindrical block with a paper band around it that fitted into a cone OR came in a tub if you were in the 1/9's at the pictures (the best seats only!). It was absolutely delicious and not a patch on today's synthetic tasting stuff.
Another early childhood delight was Cremola 'lemonade' crystals mixed with water to make a really disgusting drink. On occasion, when she hadn't got any of those in the cupboard, my mother used to make an almost equally disgusting drink by using orange juice or squash mixed with Andrews Liver Salts to make it fizzy. Mmmmmmmm....... Almost as good as having Alka Seltzer to refresh you!!
Liquorice sticks and Spanish wood, humbugs and Edinburgh rock. You could buy 2 ounces or a quarter (of a pound) twisted up in a little paper bag and still have change out of sixpence.
Well, have to go now, my Ovaltine is ready and it's past my 9.00 bedtime.
Night, night - sleep tight.
5 comments:
"Spanish Wood". I had some of that once.
It's just a stick!
Things MUST have been bad in the 1950s if they could pass off twigs as being sweeties...
I remember Spanish wood too: it was just a stick.
I don't know about the fifties being bad; aren't they still doing it today passing twiglets off as edible?
lyxu - that's what I do to lollies.
A quarter of sherbert. The sugary kind that made your finger yellow and your tongue red-raw (not the Sherbert Fountain kind, oh no). Had to see if you could eat it all before the bag went soggy and fell apart.
Ah - happy days of tooth decay and sugar rush!
OK, so now I want a hot-fudge sundae. Great. There's a Cold Stone Creamery on 2nd Avenue and 85th. Wonder if Bailey wants to take a walk . . .
Spanish Wood sounds like it should be illegal. Like Maui Wow-ee.
My brother was a man who was selling ice cream for a while, even in a hot climate he didn't make enough to pay the rent, groceries, etc. Of course, a man and van of ice cream is nice.It was nice to have cash every day, but it just wasn't enough, and he worked 10 hours a day at it, besides.
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