My experience on the milk round

School holidays

As a young lad during the school holidays I have fond memories of helping out on our local milk round. Up very early, I used to cycle down to the farm in the dark, arriving as David and his brother (the farmers) were herding the cows back into the fields.  My role was to place the crates of wide-necked bottles beneath a large tank holding the still warm milk, pull down on a lever that would insert nozzles into the bottles and then slowly release the lever when the bottle was full, avoiding any wastage. I then had to insert a green foil top into a special capping tool, place it on the bottle pressing down until it was sealed. All the pint bottles were marked with the farmer's logo and farm details with an unpasteurised 'warning'. I just loved it when we used other farmer's bottles in the collection, with their different colours and designs. These would really stand out in the crate. I would then stack all the crates into the back of the old Bedford or Ford Transit, whichever was selected for delivery that day, I would jump in the front and off we would go.

Learning the doorstep delivery was difficult, well nigh impossible for a young lad. 3 pints for Mrs Mitchell, but only one for Ethel next door; eggs for the Jones' and a bottle of orange for the Weatherspoon's. I always marvelled at the Grimes' household who had a delivery of six pints per day... what did they do with it all? Of course, the real skill was being able to carry all the empties back to the van, whilst negotiating gates and not waking anybody with a breakage. I was always amazed at how many David was able to carry back to the van. With fingers in the neck, my little hands could only grasp six bottles in total... David was twice that, tucking them under his arm as well.

At the halfway point we would always return to the farm for a fresh load. David's mum would have a massive bacon butty, dripping with butter waiting for us. There was also a steaming pint mug of full-fat milky coffee, sweetened with sugar. In the cold air of the morning we could smell both, long before we reached the door. Beautiful.

I know this is a romantic past, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I feel a little guilty nowadays as I have soya on my cereals... only resorting to semi-skimmed pasteurised milk for a coffee occasionally. Other than that I have milk in tea. But it will never taste the same as it did in my childhood days. 'White water' the Americans call their pasteurised stuff... and now we are selling it here in the UK today... sadly, I have to agree with their description.

Raw (non-pasteurised) cow's milk – an on-going debate
http://www.foodsmatter.com/allergy_intolerance/cow_milk_all_management/articles/raw_cows_milk.html