Milk from the milkman

As I put the empty milk bottles on the doorstep for the milkman to collect in the morning when he delivers our milk, I reflected on how lucky we are to still have a milkman. I know the milk is more expensive, but I think it tastes better from a glass bottle than a plastic one, and also the bottles themselves are sterilised and re-used, and the foil tops are too.

When I was a child, most people’s milk was delivered and back in those days (the olden days when I was young) the milkman had a horse pulling a float. The design of float our milkman had was cream coloured and it was open at both sides so he could hop in and out depending which side of the road he was delivering to. The horse was a patient creature who probably knew the round as well as the milkman did. Sometimes mum would give as a crust from the loaf and the milkman would let us give it to the horse.

At one time we had a milkman who delivered very early. My dad was an early riser and always ready to take the milk from the milkman, and sometimes would invite him in for an early morning cup of tea. I wonder now if dad actually knew him – he knew so many people in Cambridge. My grandparents had a pub so my dad probably knew a lot of people from that.

These days we can order almost anything for the milkman to deliver – we always have eggs from him, but occasionally I order other things too. This was very useful a few years ago when the world stopped and we were all confined to our homes. We’re very aware of how fortunate we are, and how reliable our milkman is, and always remember to leave him a little something at Christmas to say thank you.

As a postscript, when it comes to having milk in tea, I  now pour tea first then add milk.