King Henry VIII’s Greensleeves means two things to me… Miss F’s slow wedding march and the ice cream van.
Just why Tudor music should be the go-to tune for ice cream vendors I’ll put out there for you to chime in with an answer.
But I rather enjoy the image of Henry running out in his padded garb for his 99.
And I suppose it could happen… on a film set. And I dare say Jonny Rhys Meyers and Damian Lewis like a double nougat or a screwball.
Porty’s finest
Did you know though that the 99 was created just up the road from here?
In my old stomping ground of Portobello, Edinburgh’s town beach https://edinburgh.org and www.visitscotlsnd.com.
Arcari claims to be the birthplace of the 99 with the number that of their address in Portobello High Street.
Where Stephen Arcari broke a chocolate flake in half and put it on the ice cream
An alternative explanation is that it comes from slang, 99 meaning excellent and alluding to an elite guard of 99 soldiers who served the King of Italy.
The Pope’s fave
Now I don’t know about the King of Italy but our Popes have been partial to a gelato, or ice cream.
We have the Good Book, the Vatican Cookbook, as our holy scripture here which tells us that Pope Francis loves an Argentine fave dulce de leche and its caramel flavour.
And he knows his flock loves gelati too, being known to hand out 3,000 ice creams to Rome’s poor and homeless.
All of which kept my mind occupied as I stood socially distanced in my queue.
Walk this way
And for a quick and invaluable guide on Rome and how to get there by foot with Francigena Ways see www.FrancigenaWays.com, https://www.rome.net and Small roads lead to Rome.
MEET YOU IN THE QUEUE