"Oranges and lemons", say the bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings", say the bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich", say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know", says the great bell of Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
So strange how such a wee little rhyme can take you back to your childhood. This afternoon a bright yellow and white ice cream van made its way down my cul-de-sac ringing out the "Oranges and Lemons" tune at a deafening volume. By shutting my eyes tightly I transported myself back to a hot sunny afternoon from my childhood. Each day in the Summer an ice cream van would visit our street. Each day we would ask the same question "Can we have an ice cream Mum? PLEASE!" Each day we received the same reply "Not today, but maybe tomorrow" . Each day we tried to hide our disappointment, for we knew that money was tight in our household.
My Dad only had Saturday afternoon and Sunday off from work. Early Saturday, I would rise from my bed at the crack of dawn (not anymore!) go downstairs and sit with my Dad at the kitchen table. Our task was to select seven horses from the early morning paper to bet on in the afternoon horse races. We tried to pick them based on current form but soon got distracted by the exotic names of the horses. Sometimes we would disagree on which horse to select and would resort to shutting our eyes and picking a horse at random by taking a needle and pin pricking a name. My Uncle Derek (friend of the family) would call in mid-morning, take the betting slip and place the bet at the local Turf Accountants (a name that always made me smile).
Most of the time we won bugger all. Nevertheless, this didn't deter me from being glued to the TV most of the afternoon in a state of excitement and anticipation whilst watching the races. That particular afternoon lady luck was on our side, we won three of the seven races. I cannot remember how much we won (for I had no concept of money, still don't if truth be told) but I can still taste the creamy ice cream that I ate that following hot afternoon. :)
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11 COMMENTS:
Ooh yes, I remember the ice-cream van... 'do you want strawberry sauce on that? sprinkles?' Those were the days! x
Wonderful memories, TF. I remember the ice-cream van ... but then we moved house when I was 8 and he didn't come up the new road. :o(
I remember picking horses with my dad, too. He studied form of course, and I went with the best name. He could never understand how I won...
Great walk down Memory Lane, TF!
Our ice-cream van used to play 'Girls and Boys come Out to Play' and so did the clock in the park near us.
My sister, when she was about three, started asking the clock for ice-cream.
We used to sing that song in playground. It was a strange game involving catching someone and pretending to chop off their heads!! Aren't children charming?
My ice-cream of choice was one of those plastic cones that had a gob stopper at the bottom, or a 99.
ice cream just isnt a treat for the young uns today..now when I was a lass.........
When I was little we lived down a country lane so no ice cream van boo hoo!! The ones I remember hearing sounded a bit like green sleeves??..
When I was a child I could predict which horse would win but my adoptive parents were not betters on horses (they should have been!).
I have visited your photo site, there is nowhere to leave comments?
We used to watch the horse-racing on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon with my grandad, and instead of going to the van my gran would come back from shopping with a block of vanilla ice-cream that she'd slice up and put between two wafers to make a 'sandwich.' Ah, happy days!
Thanks for reviving a lovely memory :o)
AB, I miss those carefree days :)
Shirley, Time for another flutter methinks :)
Pat, How sweet :)
Claire, charming and cruel at the same time methinks :O
Blu, What? No ice-cream van :(
Cait,Take it up again ;-)
BTWI've put the comments back up on the blog (mid way down under the information panel :)
Clarkey, It's good to have a wee walk down memory lane, for our life is all but a string of memories :)
TFx
That was wonderful. You timed it just right, I'd forgotten about the ice-cream so I probably was just as delighted when I read that you got to have one the next day, as you were when you got it. :)
Dar, I was sooo pleased at the time. Shame, I do find it hard to eat ice cream now as it "freezes my brain" and makes me cough :0 TFx
Ice cream vans, fish and chip vans, the bread man, the milkman, window cleaners, insurance agents, the butchers' boy complete with bike ... life in the 1960s was rich with visitors and comings and goings.
I have similar memories of picking horses, but with my great-grandad.
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