Today dawned sunny and warm – the ideal day to start an ice cream marketing business!
Wilson and Byron were up and about early, and before long their first customers – our neighbours Derek and Linda – arrived and began reading the menu. Derek ordered a Rum & Raisin, while his wife opted for a Chocolate Sundae.
‘Excellent choices!’ Wilson assured them as he rang-up their £20 note in his Fisher-Price Junior Cash Register, before announcing cheerfully, ‘Oh! I don’t appear to have any change – never mind, I’ll give you a Credit Note!’
He went into the house for a moment, then emerged empty-pawed and chatted with Byron for a while.
After ten minutes or so, Derek asked whether his ice-cream would be much longer.
‘About 20 minutes,’ Wilson replied, ‘it’s not quite frozen yet.’
Pointing to the sign above the counter he read aloud, ‘“FRESHLY-MADE-WHILE-YOU-WAIT” you see – it’s our Unique Selling Point. As soon as your Rum & Raisin’s done I’ll start work on Linda’s Sundae!’
Although the weather today is cool and cloudy, the forecast for the weekend is apparently ‘brilliant – sunny and hot’ and final preparations are in full swing for tomorrow’s GRAND LAUNCH of what Wilson is still calling his Secret Project… in spite of it becoming increasingly clear that it is in fact an Ice Cream Stand.
The Bees are in the kitchen (from which I have once again been banished) preparing vast quantities of ‘ice cream mixture’, while Nërp is outside helping with the heavy lifting.
Both the boys seem to be taking this very seriously – I hope they’re not disappointed by poor sales.
I’ll probably buy a couple of ices myself, just to keep their spirits up.
Honestly, I never cease to be amazed by the unlikely stuff you can pick up on Amazon and eBay!
Following my feedback on Wilson’s ice-cream flavours, one of his friends, Sheila, suggested that ants should be available as an OPTION.
Wilson has sourced an Ant Shaker, reasoning that ants can be not only optional but charged extra!
He confided to me that he didn’t know whether he could trust strangers with a whole shaker full of ants, as they might unscrew the lid and just eat them all – I told him I was pretty sure he’d be okay…
Both Wilson and Byron were very keen to hear what I thought about the ice cream dishes they prepared for last night’s dinner, and I gave them my frank opinion: all the flavours were very tasty, but would have been improved by the removal of the ants.
They took this quite well, considering.
Anyway, they’ve gone out to play in the street together – I’m sure they’re both sensible enough not to get up to any mischief or annoy the neighbours…
The meal Wilson and Byron prepared for me last night was, as promised, ‘unusual and exciting’ consisting as it did of three dessert courses.
For Starters we had Strawberry Ice Cream with Croutons and Deep-Fried Crunchy Ants, our Main Course was Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Peanut Sauce and Dessert was Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae with Marshmallows and Chocolate-dipped Ants – my Blood-Sugar Meter had quite a surprise!
I’m pretty certain now that I know what ‘The Apparatus’ is – it’s an ice-cream machine – but I still don’t understand the need for such secrecy.
Unless it cost a LOT more than I expect an ice-cream machine to cost – I’m almost scared to check my VISA bill…
