Raspberry ripple

Wall's ice cream came in family bricks,

served at home as a special pudding after Sunday lunch.

We became pretty adept at cutting it into equal fifths.

I liked Neapolitan, three segments of 

strawberry,vanilla and chocolate flavour,

habitually referred to by my grandma as Metropolitan.

But my favourite was Raspberry Ripple.

So I can never look at a Rosa mundi

without it conjuring up the memory

of roast beef, lamb and pork

in strict weekly rotation,

each with its proper accompaniment -

mustard, mint sauce, apple sauce. 

An odd fusion lodged deep in the little grey cells, 

adjacent to similarly vivid childhood memories associated with 

mimosa, vanilla sugar, raffia, Plasticine and Lily of the Valley.

And if anyone could find me a plastic troll and a Pez machine to sniff,

I'd be ten again.