It had been another tough day for Paul. Sales were down and his future was looking bleak.
Life for the humble ice cream vendor was a constant struggle.
He was sitting with Miss Mary, the tattooist, who was also having a difficult time as well.
He often sat with Miss Mary and her assistant Lenny the Needle. Together they lamented their choice of occupation in a world so rapidly changing.
‘It’s a hard game,’ Paul said to her as they sat sharing a double peaches and cream.
Paul’s whole family had been in confectionary. Father, fathers father all that sort of thing.
Family tradition was important he wanted to believe.
As it was the bicycle driven cart was the one built by his grandfather in 1928.
The only thing that had changed was the pricing on the front.
Right now Paul was facing the end of his time and he knew it.
There were stalls being set up all along the beachfronts with cheaper ice creams and greater variety.
He was on a new marketing strategy; he had to do something he thought.
Do you think the new uniform works? He asked
Morpethroad 
No harm in a spot of re-branding!
Thank you Paul I think desperation leads to many strange decisions.
The things people are ready to do for self-promotion!
Thank you Gabriella yes what he thought he had to do to sell an ice cream.
We have to change, though it is a tough sell. Especially regarding traditions.
I was trying to romanticize espionage – Though there is no romance in lies.
Thanks Jules yes the reality of addressing change is hard for all of us.
I agree there isn’t a lot of romancing in espionage unless you are James Bond.
That’s the spirit! Everyone is rebranding these days. You really had me going there. I thought Paul was the older guy in the photo sitting with woman. Tricky, tricky, and good writing to boot!
Thank you good sir I am happy that I got you going, as I was writing the thought occurred to me to try and trick the reader, that’s one for me then…..lol
Perhaps Paul could consider making smaller versions of his ice cream cart and selling them to the ice cream stalls on the beach. The stalls are stationary. They need to be able to serve customers at the far ends of the beach. Get the competition going. A few deliberate crashes or flat tyres. Maybe they’ll drive each other out of business and then Paul can have a free run 🙂
That’s a rather sinister view of the ice cream business. Isn’t it about competition? Dear oh dear Lyn what’s the world coming to? Though I would have thought there would need to be ‘accidental crashes’: oops I’m sounding like you. Thank you for your entertaining comment.
Great twist at the end and a clever way of incorporating the uniforms. I doubt he could slash the prices much from £1!
Thanks Neens I did find this story difficult, several drafts before this one emerged that made slightly more sense than my earlier drafts. I’m not sure including the uniform in that way is successful or just me finding a last minute way to include it.
Well you pulled it off… so run with ‘successful’, I would 😉
Very amusing, mate!
Liked the way you pulled in all the bits whereas AnElephant just kinda ignores these things!
Well done.
Thank you good sir, I had to make use of the army uniform in some way.
I bet Paul’s ice-cream tastes better though.
You could be right there RoSy. Thanks for your comment.