Heeby-Jeebies

I like going out for ice-cream.  

Actually I'm not fond of ice-cream, I just like the going out.  The ice-cream shop is about the distance of one block away on the road that hugs the coast, so we walk along past the bars and cafes, the betting shop, the 'couples' hotel, the take-away coffee 'hatch' in the side of a building (that opened during lockdown, did a roaring trade, and now is as quiet as a grave), past the little fish taverna on the corner (that is so small it only has outside tables - and looks like the cooking is done in the basement of somebody's house), past the offices of the Metropolitan (something to do with the administration of 'the Church'), and there it is: 'the ice-cream shop'.

They have a yellow awning - sorry about the reflection

Their display cabinet of ice-cream is right on the street so I can look at it without us going indoors. They know us now, the woman speaks to me in that silly voice reserved for cats and babies, and F hands over the cup she brings with her and gets two scoops of ice-cream - usually a flavour called 'kaimaki' with morello cherries; occasionally bitter chocolate. 

Oops should have turned the cup around. Not advertising. Bought the cup in a charity shop 'cos we liked the shape.

She has tried and rejected a lot of other flavours because humans put some very strange stuff into ice-cream.  One we got in Kiato was kaimaki with tsoureki, and was pronounced thoroughly weird.

For the uninitiated tsoureki is sweet (very sweet) bread that Greeks eat at Easter time.  F advises that using up the leftovers in ice-cream didn't work for her. We digress - AGAIN!

In the winter time we would sit on the rocky beach and I would watch humans eat ice-cream.  In the summer time the beach it too hot for F and animals in fur coats, so we walk home again on the shady side of the street; F eating ice-cream and trying to not drip it on my head.


Most people get their ice-cream and coffee in single-use cups and don't feel the need to take them home.  Result:


F's friend Laura (who is a young and enthusiastic eco-warrier) has an instagram account in which she posts stuff like photos of this bin followed by a photo of what she calls 'the solution'.  It took her so long to arrange and photograph her cup of ice-cream and the napkin on a rock with a suitable view of sea in the background, that her ice cream was no longer ice (and possibly not all that much cream when closely analysed).  Still, we support her principles and the enthusiasm with which she tackles stuff like this.

I've seen these outside some ice-cream shops.

F says 'creepy'. 

I say  'What's creepy about that?' 

I'm told that humans look for faces all over the place (cats don't), even in inanimate objects like motorcars and fibreglass representations of ice-cream cones.  Humans imbue some things with a quality of being friendly based on the proportions of the 'face' and this model, I am advised, induces heeby-jeebies.

Is it just F or do other humans think this 'ice-cream' is off-putting?


Comments

  1. I see you got a forward facing seat Mr T

    I agree with F - that ‘thing’ is creepy in fact it’s almost obscene!

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    1. F's glad you used the word obscene because how she feels about it.

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  2. Well, it is weird certainly.
    I like our locally made ice cream. No artificial ingredients allowed, just lots of fat and calories!

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    1. Now that, I might concede to eat. I like cream, but what they put into frozen desserts of that description is not entirely of dairy origin i suspect. Xxx Mr T

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  3. Hari OM
    WEll... am not sure it would speak 'I am delicious' to me... I do recall having kaimaki ice cream when I visited Greece though - mastic I think and a bit different texture? But definitely creamy. Funny how I can remember that after half a century but can't tell you what I ate for breakfast yesterday. Then again, it may have stuck in mind as 'mastic' in Scotland meant glue! Hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx

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    1. Μαστιχα - Also the basis of the word masticate - only grows on one part of Chios. Resin from a tree. Reputed for centuries to settle stomachs, aid digestion and even cure stomach ulcers, gum mastic was chewed by people who knew how to maintain a healthy gut. Science has apparently proven them to be correct and it does help heal stomach ulcers. My humans drink Mastika - which smells remarkably alcoholic and vaguely medical to me - after big meals. The ice cream has a strange 'melted mozzarella' texture to it. (Imagine getting that in your fur.) Furrings and purrings Mr T

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  4. last things first today. I do NOT like that cone man, to me it is just ugly and doesn't make me want a once. That said your cup of icecream makes me want it. sadly I can never have ice cream again, none for 4 years. if i ate that one cup, i would gain all my weight back within several months. if cats can live without it so can I. what a great walk you have and that can full of cups is a striking example of what we are doing to our earth.

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    1. One ice cream can do that?! I should warn F. Walk on by.....keep walking....

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  5. forgot to say, we get up every day of our lives at 3:30 and have for all the years of our marriage. hubby had a job that was an hour commute one way, we had to be up by four for him to be on time, that habit stuck and we are out of sync with the world. we got to bed by 8 pm. he goes at 7:30

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    1. You would never survive in Greece. We are a 10pm to 6.30am bedtime household and are lucky if its quiet enough to sleep before half past midnight.

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