Now that it is summer here the street frequently fills with the tune “Turkey In the Straw” coming from an ice cream truck trolling the neighborhood looking for kids with money in their pockets and time on their hands. Although I get tired of the jingle which keeps playing in my head long after the truck has turned the corner, it does take me back to 1958.
That summer my mother, siblings and I went to New York State to visit all the “East Coast” relatives. At my cousins’ house I was introduced to the marvel of the Good Humor man. In Oregon we lived in a neighborhood without any commercial development, and the only food on a truck was from Jasper the greengrocer. I was astonished at the chance to buy ice cream outside my cousins’ house. I settled on a Toasted Almond Bar. Nothing had ever tasted so wonderful.
I never had the chance to buy from the Good Humor truck again. As an adult I discovered Good Humor bars in the ice cream section of the grocery store. I tried a Toasted Almond. Apparently most of the thrill came from buying one aged at 11 in New York. The packaged one left me cold. (pun intended.)
Saved By Words 
I liked your pun.
My children and I never lived in ice cream truck territory.
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Ah, memories
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We still have an ice cream truck during summer season(we call it a van) in Beetley, mostly at weekends, and during the school holidays. I rarely eat ice-cream, but my wife can often be seen rushing out to buy one from him.
Best wishes, Pete.
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We have ice cream vans parking near to schools and parks after school and all through the holidays, pretty well all over the country. Their ice cream varies, as do their tunes, but the jingles always get stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
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Wish I vould still eat ice cream but I am to avoid sweets because of diabetes.
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Why did the ice cream taste better when the Good Humor man brought it? One of the mysteries of life.
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Absolutely.
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I am smiling. What a great ice cream moment for you. Before the ice cream trucks, there were freezers on the back of bicycles to hold the ice cream, and bells of some sort that jingled as the the rider peddled the bike. We called him The Jingle Bike Boy.
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Wow. I never saw that. I did encounter Italian ice sellers on corners in Cambridge.
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That must have been fun to come across.
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And a relief on scorching days.
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Here in Australia we had ‘Mr Whippy’ vans patrolling the streets with ice cream in cones dipped in Sprinkles (we call hundreds & thousands) or with a Flake chocolate bar in the top of the ice cream. They also had little paper cups for just the ice cream. Then came the ice cream cones dipped in melted chocolate…I’ve actually never been a fan of ice cream nor chocolate. But I do remember that as a child this was super exciting & enjoyable on a hot summer’s day.
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I always wondered what hundreds and thousands were. I think in Canada the term went with those little strips of white paper with dots of candy stuck on.
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