Is the loss of the humble milkman the downfall of society?

Photo courtesy Ryan Stanford. 

(c) 2011 rjnitro@hotmail.co.uk

Sunlight starting to show in the sky.

The early chirp of the first birds to awaken.

The gentle hum of the electric motor of the milk float.

The clink as empty glass bottles are collected, and bottles full of fresh milk are delivered to the door.

The occasional "Good Morning" exchanged between the postman and the milkman...

A beautiful sunrise

It's a scene that I always think of as slightly magical...

I don't know why, but the thought of having a bottle of milk delivered to the door in the mornings invites images of a picturesque rural village setting, with a friendly atmosphere and peaceful lifestyle.

Sadly, this isn't an image that occurs very often any more. At least, not in large towns and cities!

People are always looking for the cheapest, quickest and most convenient option, and this means large supermarket chains the main source for a large proportion of everyday grocery shopping, it's no surprise that smaller shops and door-to-door delivery services are reducing in numbers.

In large cities and town this seems fair enough, but in my opinion rural areas should be left alone.

I grew up in a small village in which had no large supermarket. 

If we wanted to go shopping we would visit the local convenience store. The shop delivered newspapers to the door, and if we wanted anything above and beyond that we had to travel to the nearest supermarket (about 6 miles away).

Now, I can imagine you are thinking this was a major inconvenience... However, when we decided to move into the village, we KNEW that there was only the local shops and amenities! If living close to a major supermarket was high on the list of priorities, we could've moved into the city!

It was through choice we decided to live in a rural setting, and this often meant sacrificing some of the large conveniences such as supermarkets, cheap local petrol stations and a MacDonalds on the cornet of the street. 

However, on the flip side of this we had a nice environment to live in, without air polluted by industrial and commercial properties. We didn't have the city rush hour traffic. We knew our neighbours, and everyone just got on without any hassles. 

We felt closer to the countryside and closer to nature! Oh, and we also had milk delivered to the door!

If a large supermarket chain had opened up in the village where I grew up, I'm sure it would've lost some of that peacefulness, some of the charm and some of the magic... 

It would have felt like it had been upsized from a village to a town.

It would've caused an increase in traffic, caused more pollution and inevitably led to the end of doorstep milk deliveries!

I believe people have less respect in towns and cities...

Personally, I believe that people living in a town or city have much less respect for each other.

There is an attitude in a city where everybody is out for themselves. 

Perhaps it's a good thing that milk isn't delivered as often to people in a city - what are the chances the bottles wouldn't be stolen or smashed before the indended recipient receives them!?

So to sum up my thoughts, I feel that if the humble milk man is forced to stop dropping milk off at your doorstep, the magic is lost and we'll all end up in a very horrible place to live! 

In order to prevent this from happening, I think we should all have our milk delivered to the door again! 

Who is with me?

- Thelittlerich