I Scream Over Ice Cream!

OK, I have to ask myself: "How many Ice Cream trucks does one town need???" It seems like we are constantly being bombarded by Ice Cream trucks all day long into the early evening. On the weekend, there seems to be a concentration of these loud, obnoxious vehicles and our house seems to be ground zero for ALL of them!

What ever happened to the Good Humor trucks with their jingly bells? I remember as a kid, hearing those bells from 500 feet away, dashing to the house, begging the Parents for $, selling my soul with promised chores and racing after the truck to get my treat. Then we had the Mr. Sofie truck that had this very nice musical melody playing in a calliope-like manner. They always came in the evening, after dinner, with their soft Ice Cream offerings. Once they announced their arrival, out of respect, they would turn off the music and start to serve the long line of eager young faces scrambling for position around their truck.

Skip forward to present day... What the HECK is going on with these new Ice Cream trucks? There's no subtle bells or brief music any longer. They patrol my neighborhood like sharks and play all kinds of music, appropriate or not, in a steady stream that destroys any possibility of sanity! It's like they all got together and figured out who was going to play what type of music to assure total and complete utter cacophony should their trucks overlap on their daily routes!

I did a double take the other day when I heard XMas tunes coming from one truck. Another played music for about 30 seconds, paused, then this annoying, Valley Girl type voice goes: "Hello?"... These two rocket scientists came down my street following each other in direct competition, shattering the peace and quiet of a Sunday afternoon. As if that wasn't offense enough, these two genius's then stopped to have some sort of discussion side by side for about 5 mins and didn't bother to turn off the racket emanating from their respective trucks. Visions of Bazookas, Wire Guided Rocket Launchers and Shot\Machine Guns were rattling around my mind as this assault on my Musical Last Nerve was taking place!

On average, in a single day, I would say there are at least 9 Ice Cream trucks that visit my neighborhood in Summer, on a Daily basis. On a Sunday, I have counted between 12-15 visits, sometimes by repeat offenders, in a single day. At what point is this considered noise pollution, disturbing the peace or flat out harassment? I'm all for free enterprise, but surely there has to be some sort of ordinances that protect the residents from this constant assault?

Why are these trucks allowed to stop and "Stand" directly in front of my house while the customers throw their garbage out on the street rather than use the garbage slot on the truck 3 feet to their right? I remember our old Ice Cream truck people telling us not to litter and to use their can. This newer generation of trucks don't seem to care at all about their impact on a neighborhood and are only intent on sales of their products...

So let's predict how much longer it's going to take before I lose it... Before I break down and start screaming at the Ice Cream trucks, chase them down the street swinging a baseball bat at their Speakers to kill the awful music spewing forth with a handful of litter in the other hand that was deposited on my front lawn with no care from the vendor???

Place your bets folks, place your bets before you miss out and the event is over... In case I owe you money, if this does occur, you will probably be able to contact me in the local Jail. I'll pay up once I can raise enough cash to bail myself out.

I can't be the only person that's experiencing this...
Uggggggg! Enough said...

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