Ice cream man...

Drove past Seacroft this morning, where, for a few short weeks, I had an ice cream round. It must have been in 1971, because Rod’s Stewart’s Maggie May was the song I heard on the radio all that summer. I worked for Mario and Johnny Guiseppe, who had an ice cream business in Chapeltown. They used to give us all a little waxed cup of Martini, before we headed off in the vans, to start the day off right.

It was a fun job. The kids used to call me ‘Chucky Man’ - can’t remember why - and I used to hand out free ice creams on their birthdays. Some birthdays seemed to come around very quickly. If I had time, I’d head over to Leeds Grammar School, for a very busy lunchtime. The golden rule was to make sure the whippy machine was full of gunk. I learned what happens if it runs out: the whole machine exploded and covered the inside of the van - and me - with sticky ice cream. The kids were merciless. “Come and look”, they crowed, “Chucky Man’s covered in ice cream!” Happy days...