Season of mists, mellow fruitfulness — and those rare but wonderful days when the sun smiles down benignly. I was strolling in the park, absorbing the warmth, my attention was taken by an ice cream.

Or rather, to the face of a toddler who was very happily getting himself around an eminently lickable cone, with the usual results. We probably don’t really have to worry too much about the dietary impact of ice cream in situations like these because 80% of the foodstuff was being liberally spread around his face, across his clothes or dripping sadly to the floor. Which prompted the idle thought (it was a very warm and lazy afternoon) about the possibility of non-melting ice cream and from there to reflections on the general pattern of ice cream innovation…..

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