Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The Ice Cream Man

I was on a momentary breather this weekend and the familiar tones of the ice cream truck came down the street. If you grew up in the suburbs, really anywhere, I think, you know about the ice cream man. You may also reference the ice cream man from an Eddie Murphy skit on his "Delirious" performance. It has some obscenities in it, but it's very funny.

There were several ice cream trucks that used to come through our neighborhood, including one that you could go inside of. Somehow, I'm not surprised these trucks don't exist anymore. So you would get your ice cream (I got my favorite, the ice cream candy bar (not the same one, but you can get the concept), on Sunday) and then if you had extra change, you had to buy candy. The ice cream man of my youth had Fortune Bubble, but no more. I did buy some gum cigarettes, because I had to.

The ice cream man also reminded me of the mailman we had growing up. Vinnie, delivered our mail faithfully every day, and on your birthday, you got a lollipop with your mail. He had all of the birthdays of the kids in the neighborhood on the roof of his mail jeep.

Today, after picking up my son, he got to get a treat from the ice cream man, who came around the neighborhood here. He enjoyed his popsicle very much. He is still a little young for the ice cream candy bar.

5 comments:

Geofhuth said...

In Barbados, where the ice cream man can drive his truck through neighborhoods throughout the year, the ice cream trucks would play "Greensleeves," which seemed a strange choice to me, and I would run out to get a scoop (not a popsickle) of my favorite ice cream, rum raisin (which seems a little strange to me now)--so "Greensleeves" always means ice cream to me.

Geof

Anna van Schurman said...

It's not just a suburban phenomenon. The ice cream trucks annoyed the hell out of us when we lived in LA. "Pop Goes the Weasel" over and over and over and over and over...

Did you see the episode of Pimp my Ride where they pimped the ice cream truck that had a rodent infestation? Thanks, I'll go to the grocery store.

Anonymous said...

Those of us who grew up in the boonies didn't generally get such treats. The closest we got was the bi-weekly Schwan's deliveries, which our parents had to prearrange.

Archivalist said...

My favorite was something called a "Cannonball," which was a cone-shaped blob of sherbet with a gumball at the bottom. I was the only one on the block who didn't get Nutty Buddies.

ADR said...

Sorry the number one all-time ice cream truck treat is the bomb pop.