History Of My Local Ice Cream Vans

2013 & 2014

It all started out here, back in 2013 when we had the record hot summer (It most likely started 10 years before then, I just can't remember any further back). There was always just 2 vans. A yellow one (Greg) and a pink one (John). The yellow one played yankee doodle and the pink one played match of the day. The yellow one would come at 3pm sharp and the pink one would come between 7pm and 7:30pm. It was never a disaster if you missed one of them because you knew that the other one would be around. As it got further into the summer, more vans began to come around. The two vans that always came around were both from shannon ices, and those vans are still trading today. After a short while, a new green and white van came along playing yankee doodle slowly. It was the first time that I had ever heard it at that speed and being played more than once. It was then that I met Gerry, the local ice cream van that I have all the time now. He used to hardly ever come around and it was lucky to see him. It was always even more special when it was him driving the van. Once he came straight after annother one left, making things very funny. He saw us all eatingour ice cream while his chimes were on! He left, and we didn't see him for another 3 weeks. After that, things were pretty much the same. One or two vans from other companies often came round in different style vans.

2015

In the early stages of 2015, we figured out that John from the pink van must have retired. We hadn't seen him since the end of August and they usually trade until October. It was a pity because he could make you laugh and he'd never turn you down if you were short a couple of cents. I remember the few days I used to go up to him with 20 cent and he'd give me chewing gum that costed 50 cent. Those simple things. As it was edging towards the end of June, Greg in the yellow van disappeared. He wasn't seen again and I found out later that he too had retired. It was then that we began to give up hope. Then, out of the blue, Gerry began to come around the area. Every 2nd week, he would come round and everything started to pick up. He would always come round in a green and white ice cream van. A few months later, he got a new van. It was a mercedes (all the rest were transits) and it played the same slow version of yankee doodle. It was a 151, just out of Whitby Morrison, and he loved it. He switched between that van and the green and white one for most of the summer, so we got to see a difference in vans and sometimes stock and ice cream. We also saw alot of him too, and he'd always have a bit of fun with you when you're buying an ice cream! Him coming around more often made a huge impact on the summer and the people. It was more exciting to see his van turn up then to just see a van turn up.

2016

"What chime is that?" I said to my friend, "I've never heard that tune before!" That was the moment that the raindrops van made it's first visit to my area. A brand new van, green and white again, but just brilliant. It was then that I always wanted him to play the tune. This was the time he actually started playing it in full. The van would come in when you least expect it, playing that brilliant tune. It's the sort of tune that you love to hear echoing around the estate before it parks up and starts serving. Not all chimes are like that. That van came every day since then. It was that summer that I created my YouTube channel.

The channel was created some time around the end of June, and it was my favorite thing to do. I uploaded lots of chimes with logos in the background and I was very good at managing my channel. It was mostly chimes that I copied and downloaded from the interet that I uploaded with a logo. Soon after, I started recording my own chimes. I'd run up to the van with my mp3 player and audio record the chimes on the van and put it on YouTube with the rest of my YouTube videos. Then, I started to use a tablet to record the chimes, so you could see the van on video. It did't work out very well. You can see it yourself on the right of this text. It went pretty well, and other vans would come around too, and I would record them too.

2017

It all started out as waiting. Waiting for the ice cream van to return for 2017. After a while, I gave up. 2 weeks later, I was out in my garden when I heard a faint distant chime (raindrops). I thought, God is that him back already? And sure enough it was. An hour later, down the road he came, chimes blaring. But yet I still couldn't see it. I went around the corner to check out if he was there or not, because I was convinced that he was. It was then that I copped that it was Gerry's boss, Alan covering for him for a couple of weeks. After a few weeks, Gerry returned in the same van. It was getting boring because he had that van for nearly a year straight now. Just as I thought it would be the same old chime as last year, it happened. The thing that shook up ice cream van videos and chimes once and for all. The LaVita van came around. I can still remember the excitement as Gerry drove into the estate playing Anchors Aweigh. At first, it sounded as if he would only have it for a day, but it actually turned out to be 2 and a half weeks. It was touch and go with videos for a while, I didn't know if he'd play the chimes for me or not because I couldn't catch him coming in. Then, a week later, May came along and so did summer! The sun was better in May than i'd ever seen it. It was then that I was allowed to go up to the other estates. I was never allowed before because apparently it's 'dangerous'. Well that was when I would get the recordings of him entering the estate. When he arrived in my estate, I would walk up to the other two to film him. That way, i'd have a signal when he came around and I wouldn't have to be waiting for him plus I was getting 2 recordings, maybe 3 every time he came around. That LaVita van made my summer.

After that, a few old vans returned including the ford transit that plays yankee doodle slow harvin. That van has been around since 2013 and it doesn't look any older. It only came once. After that, a yellow and white van came playing yankee doodle harvin fast. I thought it was new, but it turned out to be a 141 reg. After that, I didn't see him for a week. But it payed off because that was when he came in the 151 mercedes mondial lusso from Whitby Morrison. It was thought to have 3 chimes, but it turned out to just be a single chime box in the end. After that, it was mostly that van. It's still a weird van and the version of yankee doodle on it sounds weird and I don't know why. 2 week later, he returned in a ford transit van that I never saw before. It was a 12 reg but I had never seen it before. It played the microminatures version of yankee doodle. That wax the only other new van that returned during the summer and it wasn't a great one with a great tune. It had a duet box and i'm still trying to get the other tune on it. All of the vans would come around except for the lavita one. That had been sold to someone in England. It was an interesting summer because you just didn't know what to expect. I also got the chance to go inside one of the vans (the raindrops one) and play the chimes. After the summer, it still kept going. Vans come around till the end of October in my area.

6th September 2017:

I could hear a faint sound of raindrops in the distance. Wow, I said, I think he's gone to the other estates first. I checked both of them first, nothing. Then I went back home. I didn't think any more of it until I heard the van blaring out my favorite chime (raindrops). It was then that I realised that I hadn't seen that van since March. It only became my favourite chime after we started getting yankee doodle on every other van. That was my favorite day for an ice cream van. That and when the lavita van first came around. Both of them were just as exciting.

Well nothing much happened after that, same old vans again and again and then he finished for the winter. I remember his last words before he finished: "see you tomorrow". Never feckin turned up! Well that added the end on to a perfect 2017!

2018

Well the ice cream van ira has only just started 3 weeks ago! Only 2 vans have turned up, one being a 181 mercedes lusso amalfi, but who know whatt 2018 will bring!