No ice cream vans in Brittany/France

[morrisminorbzh]

Received Minor Matters in my letter box today and read the article on MOT2014 in Brittany - with great regret I was not able to take part (at the moment Minorless).

Noted that some of you had trouble finding an ice cream van, they are indeed thin on the ground in this part of the world.

But here's a solution for the next MOT in France : http://mini.43.free.fr/vues2/2402gf.jpg

Real one's like this Citroën Type H still exist

[bmcecosse]

Sounds like a good business opportunity...move to France and sell Ice Cream - from a van ! Or is there a ban on such things in France ??

[morrisminorbzh]

Don't think there is a ban on ice cream vans in France - there are plenty of "Food trucks" on weekly markets and at seaside resorts selling things like pizzas, crêpes etc but ice cream vans are as I said "thin on the ground".

I'm off to the Ile d'Oleron for two weeks - there may be an ice cream van in residence (I hope).
If I see any I'll post a photo.......

[POMMReg]

Sounds like a good business opportunity...move to France and sell Ice Cream - from a van ! Or is there a ban on such things in France ??

Didn't they get banished to St.Helena because they ONLY sold ice cream, not onions?

Erik Satie chimes didn't help much neither.

[Morris Mike]

Surely it is a cultural thing.

We had a lot of Italians live here after the second world war. They brought their ice cream making talents with them.
They opened ice cream parlours at seaside resorts.
Hence the start of the mobile ice cream van.


France was not really a country the Italians wanted to settle in, so the French did not experience the delights of Italian ice cream parlours or mobile ice cream vendors.
I have travelled all over France since the age of thirteen, I can honestly say I have not seen any abandoned or unused ice cream vans siting in yards or behind garages like you do in the UK.
And what about those Walls ice cream tricycles.!!!

Poor little French kids...they missed out on another childhood bit of culture.

And before you think great...I will sell up in the UK and buy a house in South West France. Take a couple of Bedford ice cream vans down there with me and make a quick buck...think again.

As we have always said when driving through rural villages or towns in France, and observing the paintwork on the buildings ,which normally looks like it was last applied before the second world war....."You would not earn a living as an exterior painter or decorator over here".

G.F