The Sherbert Pervert....

Last day of the New York Photo Festival today. Must of slipped my mind...If only Concord was still in operation....

When I was a skinny little twit with freckles and fuzzy hair we had an ice cream van that came a hooting everyday at 4.00pm. The operator was a fella called Warwick, he had a Scottish accent but was apparently Italian and wore black leather cowboy boots. His glasses were like the bottom of jam jars and sometimes he donned a small thin mustache not unlike Zorro.. Often on a Friday he would get us all to gather round his serving hatch with our 99's and tell us he was jetting off to New York on Concord to show off some of his photographs. Often when I was buying cigarettes for my father (cigarettes sold to an eight year old from an ice cream van, priceless) I had heard Warwick say he often took photographs and apparently had quite the collection. What a glamorous lifestyle I thought. Jetting off to NY on Concord at the speed of sound with some nice photos to show off....
"Don't worry kids, I'll be back on Monday....."
Those where the last words I heard Warwick the Italian ice cream man/photographer as he waved goodbye to the sound of Greensleeves.
It was not because Concord crashed that I never seen Warwick again, oh no, It was because the guy was a complete and utter pervert and had been selling indecent photographs of kids, the New York trips being a big part of the business. But thankfully the cops had been onto him for a while and finally relived him of his Cowboy Boots at Heathrow airport.
'The Sherbert Pervert' heading in The Sun newspaper the next day is something I will always remember and it wasn't long before my concerned father came to me with many questions; (he never sent me for his cigarettes after that I can tell you!)
'Did he touch you son?'
'Did he try to take your picture?'
No, I replied, but he did tell me New York was the best place to show photographs.. Not bad advice, even if it was from a complete pervert.