>until I realized that "soft ice cream" meant soft serve

There used to be two ice cream vans which came down our road at weekends and during the holidays. One was solid, very white ice-cream made by a local company with Italian origins. It was lovely and in my teenage years was made all the better by the young Italian who served the ice cream with a wide smile.

The other company sold the nasty manufactured soft stuff which came out of a machine. We said it tasted like Brylcreme and was served by an "old git". I wonder how many areas they could drive through these days whilst sticking to the original name - Mr Whippy!