Milk

We were leaving about 11:30am to head back to London.  As we were departing I noticed Mum and Dad’s milk crate full of empty milk bottles by the side of the driveway. I don’t know why it’s been many years since I’ve paid attention to this.

The milkman doesn’t visit everyday. I don’t think they consume enough but, in many places, it’s also the trend that the milk delivery service is not every day. We have never managed to secure a delivery slot for us in London

I’m very supportive of the idea of the doorstep milk delivery because, when I was a teenager, I earned extra money at weekend and in the school holiday assisting a milkman on his route near our house. It didn’t pay well and the early starts were terrible (especially in winter). At Christmas or during a period of snow I could be on the float for six or more hours and, in freezing temperatures, handling the cold milk bottle in the winter air always made my fingers numb.  I found gloves not to be the most helpful of things because you needed to grip multiple bottles. 

And then there’s the story that I regularly tell of a crate of Vimto falling off the back of the electric vehicle and washing down a cup-de-sac on a nearby housing development. I swear you could smell Vimto for a couple of days.

Due to engineering works on the railway we had to take the National Express coach back to London. We’ve never done this journey before and always feared beng a bit too cramped but, after our successful and pleasant journey to Stanstead airport in February, we decided to try a longer trip.  I am not sure we would have been able to be in Shrewsbury otherwise.   There were stops at coach stations in Telford and Birmingham which took us on routes around the midlands that we wouldn’t normally take if we were driving home and it was really interesting.  We got to Victoria Coach station by about 4:30pm and then on home.