HDB Ice Cream Peddler

This is a common scene in my country local housing estate (HDB).

On alternate Saturday afternoons, at about 2pm, the ice-cream vendor will park his mobile ice-cream cart at a shady corner of the park and starts ringing his bell. He is very wise to choose a corner where there is always a constant human traffic. People walking to and fro the estate and the bus stop will surely not miss him, especially on a hot and humid afternoon. Anyway, he already has a regular pool of customers faithfully waiting for him on those Saturdays. One of them is my mum. My boy and her are supporters of his ice-cream. Cheap and good. One of the indulgences both grandma and her grandson will enjoy together every alternate weekend.

My mum will delightfully announce to my boy that the ice-cream "uncle" has arrived. She will stop at anything she is doing and go downstair quickly to queue for her turn to buy the smooth creamy ice-cream. Prior to that, she will usually discuss with my boy which two flavours they want to get for that particular Saturday. They have many nice flavours to choose from. Chocolate, strawberries, raspberries, vanilla, corn, durian and coffee. The ice-cream vendor will take out a big slab of ice-cream from his mobile cart freezer, cut them into smaller thick rectangular slices and stick each individual slice between two pieces of crispy waffle biscuits. Wala! there, he passes his ice-cream sandwiches to his queueing customers. Each sandwich costs 70 cents. Or you can also buy from him the whole ice-cream slab for $5 which is usually sold for $7 at other upmarket outlets. Each slab can be cut into eight smaller rectangular slices. So it is always more economical to get the whole slab home but do request ice-cream uncle to slice it up for you individually with the wrapper still attached. He will generously pack for you many pieces of waffles biscuits to be used later when you make the ice-cream sandwiches at home.