ice-cream season

Berlin has an ice-cream season! 

Strutting down the street yesterday, I very happily chanced across the following sign:

On 22 March the Ice-Cream Season starts! Also, you may be pampered from 1-7pm

As a keen aficionado of sweet dairy treats, this sign initially had me beaming. Soon after, however - may 5-6 steps further away - I had to stop and think about it a little bit more, finger to my lips. I've been eating ice-cream already. Out of Season. 


Initially, I thought the stuff I was eating wasn't very good because we bought it from a budget supermarket and even then it was pretty cheap. It tastes a bit like actual iced-cream (cream that has been frozen), rather than ice-cream proper. 


Instead, it could perhaps be that I've just been eating the imported out-of-season stuff and, from the 22 March, I'll be able to get my slippery tongue around some real frosty deliciousness.


But there's a more sinister interpretation for the sign, one that I base on a childhood of viewing Looney Tunes cartoons. Perhaps it is illegal to eat ice-cream before the season commences.


It sounds overly paranoid, yes, but German rules and regulations are pretty weird cop. Did you know they have "GEZ inspectors" who come into your house and charge you for using the radio, if you have a radio? There could very well be a dessert squad, too!


So last night I ate my just desserts clandestinely in a coffee cup, to avoid paying the fine in case anybody rats on us to the Polizei. 

Just a fancy latte, officer; like at Starbucks!

The thrill of danger still didn't make it any better. Come the 22 March, I'll be ordering iced-and-sugared cream, to be safe.