Humberstone Road, Wollaton

Image: © Stephen McKay Taken: Unknown

The quality of this old colour slide is far from ideal but the scene is of interest. At the time Humberstone Road was being built and, as was often the case in those days around building sites, no attempt was made to give the new roads a temporary surface, resulting in a quagmire after rain. On this summer evening in 1969 the driver of an ice cream van had, for some inexplicable reason, attempted to bring his vehicle this way. The inevitable happened and he got hopelessly stuck in the mud (and he couldn't even blame the SatNav!). He must somehow have contacted his company because they sent out another identical van to tow him out. Unfortunately the plan failed miserably when the second van got just as stuck as the first. As an 11-year old witnessing this spectacular display of adult incompetence I, of course, found the whole thing hysterical and rushed home to get my camera. By the time I got back the light was fading but I got the shot (I imagine now that the two drivers were less than pleased to have an irritating kid around doubled up with laughter and taking a photograph). How the situation was eventually resolved is lost to history but I seem to recall they had gone by morning.

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