Monday 12 September 2011

Memories of glass milk bottles................................................ and Tit's


Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)

I have plenty to do when I return home after work.
Feeding myself in the evening, ironing a shirt and preparing lunch for the next day, sometimes a bit of cleaning...life is tough being a single male....lol!
I put the television on for the local news when I get in, this is followed by The One Show at 7pm
 It's on in the background I listen rather than watch.
Alex and Matt  presenters of The One Show
They usually have a little piece about nature...today's was about the reintroduction to the UK of the Large Blue Butterfly and was very interesting... I watched it.
Large Blue (Maculinea arion)
7.30pm and the show comes to an end...  I start to channel hop for something that doesn't need watching.
Just a noise I can listen to.
I discovered a rerun of Birds Britannia... a lovely series documenting our love of birds in the UK.
Part of the programme brought back some wonderful memories of my childhood.

We had milk delivered to our doorstep early in the morning...

...and the Tit's used to peck at the lids to get at the cream.

They all learnt from each other... and it was just an accepted part of life in the 1960's.
Deliveries were made while we slept... fresh milk was delivered to our doorstep.
 As a child I remember hearing clinking crates early one December morning and thinking it was Santa's Sleigh.
In due course plastic bottles took over... they don't give the impression of a proper pinta
They still have a foil top... covered by a screw cap... the Tit's can't open screw caps!
I miss silly things like this.... lovely memories

To see more beautiful birds from all over this amazing planet visit:
World Bird Wednesday XLIII
click on the image to view.
CLICK THIS PICTURE!

27 comments:

Inger-M said...

Ah, nostalgia - we had those milk bottles too, but we had to get them in the store, there was no delivery. That was one of the things we found so exotic when visiting the UK; the little milk vans driving the streets in the mornings :-)
And I too listen more than watch TV these days :-) Great post!

TexWisGirl said...

did you take those shots of the tits on the milk bottles? so cute! i often tape my 'real' programs i want to watch and end up letting some other program play in the background while i read blogs or sort thru photos, etc. of course, then i never get caught up on the 'real' programs! :)

grammie g said...

Hi Andrew...hahaha Sorry I had a hard time getting past the title ..like where the milk comes from!!
I do think you have a little ADD (Attention deficit disorder) going on! ; }
Cute post
Gracce

ADRIAN said...

The wee bottles we used to get at school. Frozen in winter and rancid in summer.......When it was neither the tops were pecked off. This damn homogonised stuff today is pretty awful.

Malgorzata Ingstad said...

Hello Andrew - I remember milk bottles (gosh!) too. Cute pictures! Have a nice week.

The Herald said...

Great post Andrew, I remember it well, the tits pecking away the foil tops and on cold winter mornings seeing a column of frozen milk sticking out the top of the bottle with the foil cap sitting on the top!...Perfect ice cream!

Ah! memories......

Let's hope that re-introduction of The Large Blue is a continuing success story...[;o)

Bob Bushell said...

Yes, I have the same memory, it was a beautiful time.

joo said...

We had our milk delivered in very similar bottles here, and you know, I also miss them:D
Lovely post!

John said...

Hi Andrew,
Ah, milk and Tits! Happy memories! ;)
J
Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

Unknown said...

Great story Andrew!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

mick said...

Great photos and great post. We had similar mild bottles out here as well. If you kept enough caps and strung them together they made nice sparkly Christmas decorations! No little birds like that out here though.

holdingmoments said...

Great post Andrew, and great memories.
Part of life, the tits pecking the milk bottle tops lol

I used to be a milkman years ago, and remember having to put covers over some of the pintas for people to stop the birds getting their cream lol

If only I had a time machine...........

Pantherka said...

Impeccable posts, they also recall the bottles. And with love I remember my childhood when I spent holidays with her ​​grandmother in the country.

DeniseinVA said...

Andrew what a lovely post, and the sound of clinking milk bottles early in the morning is one of my memories too, though I don't remember the birds pecking through the foiled tops. That must have been extra special. Sounds like the one show would be interesting to watch.

Thanks for stopping by my mushroom post. I have a favor to ask, would you please post photos of those puffballs when you find them, from picking to plate would be lovely? Hope I am not too cheeky for asking but they do sound fascinating.

Adam Tilt said...

That brings back some great memories Andrew. I was a child just as the local milkman was dying out but can remember milk bottles with their tops pecked in. I always found it brilliant, my parents less so.

Debbie said...

most of my t.v. time has been taken over with reading blogs and photography fun. i like this much better.

your photo's are wonderful....i remember milk deliveries as well, i think it's making a comeback here in new jersey!!!

Nancy said...

What a joy it must have been to see the tits on the milk bottles. They look very much like our chickadees here. Wonderful post, Andrew. :)

Springman said...

Great post Andrew,I'm thinking the pictures of the tits tapping the milk bottles must be quite old but they sure don't look it. I remember milk men too, my Dad suggested I think about becoming one way back in the day! Thanks for the memories!

Reena said...

What a cool memory Andrew! That blue butterfly is gorgeous!

Stewart M said...

Hi there - nice post. I used to live next door to a milk dairy - so at the crack of dawn you would be woken by the clanking of bottles! It was more like the voice of Satan than Santa!

I also wonder how long it would take the BT's and GT's to “re-learn” the skill if door step, foil topped delivery started again.

Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

Anonymous said...

Wonderful, nostalgic post! I love those black and white photos.

NatureFootstep said...

clever birds, they know what they want :)

sunflowerkat said...

First visit here for World Bird Wednesday. I was delighted by both your images and your nostalgic story.

Kat
http://inmydreamssfk.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Very cool post! The reintroduced butterfly is awesome and the photos of the little guy on the milk bottles are way too cute.

jeanlivingsimple said...

Sweet post...Andrew.:)

Larry said...

A fantastic post Andrew! I remember the clanking of the glass milk bottles. We never had birds poking their beaks through drinking the cream though. Amazing!

Arija said...

I miss milk in bottles too but when we first came to Adelaide, we lived on the mountain, Mt.Lofy, we were classed as rural and had real milk delivered into our billycan at the gate. On saturdays you could also order cream, again filled into a container you had put our. You just cannot buy cream like that any more.
I love the clever tits raiding the milk bottles.