Long ago ice creams were bought from the "Stop me and Buy One" cart. This photograph was taken by my father in about 1936 or 1937. You can just see the prices - and those were old, pre-decimal pence, of course. In those days you could get a cornet, with a little cylindrical piece of ice cream wrapped in paper, which you peeled off and put the ice cream in the biscuit cone. And then you licked! The trick was to keep pushing the ice cream down with your tongue so that when you got to the last little bit of cone there was still some ice cream left in it!
The alternative was the wafer. A rectangular block of ice cream with a biscuit either side. Much more ice cream than wafer biscuit, and hence more expensive. The photograph above is me (in the middle) with my sister on the left and my friend on the right. It was, apparently, taken at London Zoo in 1942. I cannot imagine what we were all doing , being taken up to London during at a time when the blitz was on, but my Father's indexing is impeccable, and that is what it says! Its obviously a lovely sunny summer day, so maybe it was a very quiet time!
I think we must have had our ices wrapped in paper napkins, to keep those lovely smocked dresses clean!
Ice lollies came in about the same time as the Stop me and Buy One truck, but were nothing more than frozen orange squash! It was a while after the war when other ices came, although the ice cream was still hard. My favourite was a choc ice - but you had to be careful to catch the chocolate when you bit into it, as it was frozen hard, and fell off the ice cream. Do you remember that?
Soft ice cream made an appearance - ooh! about the end of the 1950's I would think, though someone else out there might know. "Mr. Whippy" came round with his jingle bells, and you got a biscuit cone (much the same as pre-war, I think!) with a delicious whipped top of lovely soft ice cream. Ideal for smothering small children!
Now you can get an extraordinary range of luxurious ice cream, and they are no longer a treat for good children!
I still fancy a good solid choc ice, though!
8 comments:
What fun nostalgic post...I remember we had an Isley's store and my favorite was to go to the shop while my mom finished grocery shopping and get a cup of lemon lime sherbet...loved it!
Warm or even hot sunny days do seem to be a long time ago at the moment. The temperature here is still in single figures.
I've never been much of an ice cream lover, BUT I love a choc ice and also something called a lemon water ice which is a bit like a lemon sorbet in a cone that our local ice cream van sells. Can't wait for summer now.
Oh those were the days! I remember the truck driving down the street, they don't make the rounds quite so much any more....
We had an Italian prisoner of war near us who never went home after the war, and he used to make his own ice cream to sell out of his pale blue and ice cream coloured van - It was the most gorgeous ice cream I can ever remember. He sold it in wafers and also in oyster shaped shells too. What a beautiful memory. Thanks Gilly. xxxx
Oh, I love your old photos Gilly! They are so beautiful. You're so lucky you have them.
I can still hear the music from the Mr. Softee truck.
I love your old photos, too, and they bring back memories for me!
Both these photos are so wonderful. Gilly, just the perfect essence of summertime. The one of the 3 girls in their hats and frocks is just adorable even without knowing who is in the picture! It would make a great greeting card or poster!
My father was a detailed archivist, too, and I appreciate it more now than ever, since the years have started to blend together for me...
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