Ice Cream Lady

I am writing my third post of the day. I wasn't quite sure how much time I would have to blog today and excitingly a little more time than expected has come up. This has been greatly helped by mum having Zach to stay with her and hubby being around too so I have been able to google my heart away checking out both the meaningful and the meaningless and now my heart is filled to the brim!

When I was a little girl, probably aged around 5 or 6 years old I remember writing letters to Grandma Peppermint telling her what I wanted to be when I grew up. It oscillated between being a 'sweetie shop lady' and being an 'ice cream lady'. I also remember that on a visit to England from Ghana, the shere excitement at hearing the ice cream van music playing in the distance and Grandma Peppermint handing me 50 pence to go and get myself an ice cream.

I can picture myself now, I was feeling cold because I hadn't quite acclimatized to the great British weather(it was July and pretty hot for England)and so Grandma Peppermint had lent me her pale blue cardigan which swamped me. I skipped down the four steps that led out of her flat and down the path to the street. I shyly handed the money to the ice cream van man without uttering a word and simply pointed at a picture on the van of a 99 and watched in awe as he swirled the Mr. Whippy white ice cream into the cornet, then, in went the flake followed by strawberry sauce and finally the piece de resistance - a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands!!!!

The funny ending to this story is that due to my sudden muteness I had not explained to the ice cream man that I only wanted one ice cream and so he gave my 50 pence's worth of Mr.Whippy which I then distractedly carried back to the flat whilst starting to eat my own ice cream.

I never did become an ice cream lady but thoughts of Mr.Whippy or Mister Softee as Americans know it as, do still make my heart skip a beat and I feel extremely proud that as a parent I can say I have never denied my children the opportunity to dance with Mr Whippy in hand! Here's what I found whilst taking a trip down memory lane, pure nostalgia and pure joy and a hearty chuckle! (Do excuse the swearing!)