The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26 · 1 October 2017 at 10:07PM

The post from Floss regarding the safety on the doorstep of her milk coupled with my mentioning policemen has triggered a childhood memory . In the late 50s there were a few occasions when the milk was missing when mum went to fetch it in . She mentioned it to the local beat bobby and for three days a burly , uniformed police sergeant stood in our hallway near the front door . We were under strict instructions from mum to come downstairs fully dressed as there was a man in the house

We had to be quiet though it was hard not to giggle . On the third day the thief was grabbed and taken away .
That couldn't happen now , blue remembered hills again .

I'm like you Hester and support local business as much as possible . If the fair producers and suppliers go to the wall we will be left with those powerful supermarkets who can then name any price knowing we are the ones over the barrel .
Methinks I may need a dairy cow or two in the near future .
polly

mardatha · 2 October 2017 at 8:04AM

We've had the same milkman here for 30 years, he only comes Mon/Wed/Fri but he will bring veg and fruit in season. I don't get him because my son had a milkround when he was at high school and that sod fiddled him out of his wages more than once.

[Deleted User] · 2 October 2017 at 8:43AM

We don't have the option of a milkman and haven't for the last 20 years, there was a round when we first moved here 25 years ago but the milk didn't get delivered until 11.30 am most days and the milk often didn't get delivered at all! No wonder the round disappeared. We've also lost a Doctors Surgery, 2 banks and a garage that sold petrol etc.and quite a few small businesses that over the years have set up in the empty shops and lasted at most for a year, mostly six months before closing. We have 6 hairdressers, 2 small supermarkets, 1 bakery/restaurant that gets all the baked goods delivered in, 4 pubs,1 fish and chip shop, 1 Chinese takeaway, 1 Indian restaurant, 1 up market restaurant, 2 estate agents, 1 funeral director/florist, 2 car sales garages, 1 tea room, 1 pet shop, 1 chemist, 1 posh dress shop, 1 very expensive and increasingly small Boutique, 1 picture framer and surprisingly the most successful business is a Bridal/Prom dress shop. We are out of the way little place on the road to nowhere but here so it's no wonder that businesses don't thrive but I guess the rentals on the retail units must be lower than in the bigger villages so people chance their luck and it NEVER works!

ivyleaf · 2 October 2017 at 8:50AM

We live in an outer suburb and had a Co-Op milkman for many years. The morning after the 1987 "Great Storm", trees down all over the place, still very windy, and he came round the corner on his float as if nothing had happened.
When he retired, Co-Op diaries having been taken over by then, the new milkman only came 3 days a week and the milk had become increasingly expensive, and the milkman often didn't come but then we were charged for the milk we hadn't had, so we regretfully cancelled, and buy supermarket milk now

Nice to "see" you wondercollie

I have an appointment with the dentist presently - a tooth broke on Thursday evening

I expect it will need a crown, and I've only just paid for one!

ETA The tooth has been mended and it was close enough to the last treatment to be counted as a "continuation", so I didn't have to pay :j

THIRZAH · 2 October 2017 at 11:02AM

We had the same problem Ivyleaf. For years our milkman delivered milk on time whatever the weather-he only lived up the road. When he retired a firm based in a town about 20 miles away took over. If the weather was bad we didn't know when or if the milk would arrive. On a couple of occasions I waited until mid morning then slithered down the hill to town in the snow to buy milk only to find a pint on the step when I returned.

We've switched to supermarket milk. In the winter I buy a four pint bottle of the Cravendale type milk about once a month so if it does snow we have milk in the fridge. I also keep a supply of long life-we don't like in in tea but it's fine for cooking.

mardatha · 2 October 2017 at 11:10AM

Our milkman arrives in all weathers too, he has winter tyres and chains lol

ArthriticOldThing · 2 October 2017 at 11:14AM

I only wish we could get milk delivered but we live in a large block of flats with outside walkways and ANYTHING left on doorsteps always disappears quickly!

Silvertabby · 2 October 2017 at 11:36AM

We could have our milk delivered - but we don't because he does his round between midnight and 1am (seriously!). OK in the winter, but milk is likely to go off in the summer - unless you're willing to get out of bed when you hear the bottles rattling, which we are not.

Going back to the 1960s/1970s, we had a spate of milk being stolen from our doorstep - even though we had a small front garden and a gate. My mum waited for the milkman, then swiftly swopped the new bottle for one-she-had-prepared-earlier. Dettol mixed with water. We didn't lose any more milk after that.

ivyleaf · 2 October 2017 at 3:20PM

Silvertabby wrote: »

We could have our milk delivered - but we don't because he does his round between midnight and 1am (seriously!). OK in the winter, but milk is likely to go off in the summer - unless you're willing to get out of bed when you hear the bottles rattling, which we are not.

Going back to the 1960s/1970s, we had a spate of milk being stolen from our doorstep - even though we had a small front garden and a gate. My mum waited for the milkman, then swiftly swopped the new bottle for one-she-had-prepared-earlier. Dettol mixed with water. We didn't lose any more milk after that.

Well done to your mum :T

pollyanna_26 · 2 October 2017 at 8:24PM

That's good news on the tooth ivyleaf.

It was a wild , wet and very windy night here last night . I hope tomorrow will be better it's been cold and horrible today .
After hearing of not very nice milkmen I think I need to wrap mine in bubblewrap in case he falls of the float . I'm certainly going to double the Christmas box I put in his card . I think I'm very lucky, my milk was outside when I opened the front door at 7am this morning carefully tucked behind a big heavy pot to stop it flying in the wind .
Maybe it makes a difference that everything from the dairy herds to the doorstep delivery have been via generations of one family for 78 years.
Hope the wind wasn't too bad up the hill Mar.
Take care all
polly

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The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

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