You Come to Me on a Summer Breeze....

Tonight I took a trip over to Irvine to get some ice cream.  A necessity after a very draining week at work.   The Ice Cream Shop, Vanilla Joe's has been voted the "Best Ice Cream Shop in Scotland", and I can verify that result. 

The shop sits on a road that is very familiar to me, in among a vast array of residential flats and apartments, and pretty town houses; a Maritime Museum and a clutter of  artists residences, harbour side bars and shops. 

It's completely different from when I spent most of my formative years in Irvine... I skated, a lot. 

There was an ice rink at a new leisure centre and after a days' trial on the Blue boots, and lovely new white boots at Christmas Time, The ice rink became my second home. 

The walk took you past the scabby newsagents which is now this very pretty designer Ice Cream parlour...a derelict hotel, a terrace of derelict and very scary two up two downs.  there were empty factories, and storage places, a run down and pretty empty harbour and a couple of nasty, risky pubs, (but ones which were willing to overlook the age when it came to buying booze to make an evening a bit risque!

We made this walk most Sundays at 1pm, to get to the 2-5 session, and then as our love of skating expanded, we walked it on Saturday late afternoons, Friday nights, and Wednesday nights.   It was a terrifying walk - and not one to be done alone. 

I remember walking past this ice cream shop as work commenced to tidy the place up - a "tunnel" had been set up to provide a walk way and as we walked along the tunnel a flasher appeared at the end of the tunnel, swinging his wares under the glare of the street lamps. 

We all laughed hysterically and ran at him.  He took off like the clappers. 

We did the walk up to the train station, past the dark doorways, at 10 pm after the skating finished.  On Sundays the trains finished early and we would have an extra walk to the Town Centre, for the Bus. and we'd get the last bus at 1035. 

And dad would walk down with the dog and meet me off the bus at the bottom of the road... which was a damn sight safer than where I had just been. 

and I was only 12 or 13.... 


ps ... in extra's the sun has disappeared, and little golden kiss on the horizon...  and the answer to yesterday's question... is a stripy polie bear.