Selfsufficientish.com

I have milk delivered to me in glass bottles this is in weston super mare somerset , this thread has reminded me I still have some bottles left outside my door .
If you still have this service in your area please support it

My Dad was a milkman and he worked for the local dairy in the village.

They did their own bottling (in glass bottles) and the racket during the day was unbelivable. The noise of thousands of glass bottles on a conveyor belt going thru the washer ... ouch!

When I was in school, I used to help him on a Saturday morning. One time, I fell over, dropped the bottle and landed on it with my hand. I still have a scar on my middle finger, and it still hurts.

Dad used to drive one of those old electric milk floats - 15 mph tops - and he would trek all around the country lanes delivering milk to folk in hidden villages around the valleys.

One year it was so cold, Dad got frostbite on his toes. Another year his float got stuck inthe snow and he had to wait for the tractor to come and pull him out. Another time, he was parked and dropping milk, and a motorbike hit a curb and the rider smashed thru his front window, landing on the front seats.

He worked from 3.30am until about 10.30am every day, except for money collection days when he would start a bit later and finish later.

I often used to go help the bloke who milked the cows as well. We would go out to the herd and attach them to those automatic milking machines. He taught me how to milk a cow by hand as well, but I don't know if I still remember how.

The dairy is still open, but with a smaller herd. They buy some of their milk in, I believe, now. They still deliver in glass bottles. You still get stuck behind electric milk floats.

The owners and managers of the Dairy came to Dad's funeral in March, and praised him highly for his years of service.

I've just restarted our milk delivery, ours comes from a farm 2 miles down the road who do all the processing on site so our food miles have gone down even further! I restarted them after meeting the farmer and talking to him at a 'food town' event (the local chamber of commerce and town council are trying to encourage all our local producers-including small scale small holders- they have a five-year plan to make Wellington the food town of the south west, so quite exciting really!) he was very into his cows and was adamant not to change to cartons but stick with glass, so I signed up for delivery there and then!

kind thougths, and compliments of the season
Deb

they are in an antique shop in manitou springs colorado honest i'm not kidding, hundreds of them from allover lancashire clitheroe, gisburn, skipton (sorry and yorkshire) settle, etc etc i couldnae belive it.