The ice cream man cometh
My last house was in a fairly rough area. About 8 or 9 at night we often heard the sound of the ice cream man, which always seemed to be a bit late for an ice cream van to be coming round. I always made jokes about it selling drugs.

One day, I was walking an unfamiliar path near my house and saw the ice cream van go past. Then a small boy (probably about 7) carrying a bunch of drooping tulips stopped me and said "See that ice cream van? That's the evil ice cream van..."

Should probably have put this in the 'creepy' QOTW
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Fri 22 Apr 2011, 15:00, 2 replies)

Yeah, there used to be a late-evening ice cream van in south/central Leeds. Probably still is.
Never saw it, but you'd always hear it between 7-9 pm one or two days a week during the summer months, even in different parts of the city - it got around quite a bit.

The best thing about it was the tune it played: a cheap and slightly knackered version of the James Bond theme.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Sat 23 Apr 2011, 1:57, closed)

I suspect this is one of a little commented upon genre
known as "parental lies to stop a kid demanding an ice-cream upon hearing the clanking, garish tunes of the ice-cream van".

My own parents favoured "The ice-cream van only sells hot pies after 5pm". Which led to me getting a very old fashioned look off of the ice-cream man when I commented upon his pie wares one Saturday afternoon. I've also heard "The tune means he's run out of ice-cream" (rather unimaginative I feel) and "If you ask for an ice-cream after it gets dark, the man will throw an egg at you". Which was bewildering, but had the desired effect.
(Light, Wed 27 Apr 2011, 21:13, closed)