Posted by Alan Hakim on June 18, 2005 at 18:27:52 from 212.137.246.46 user awhakim.
In Reply to: Re: Bread, Milk posted by John Wilson on June 18, 2005 at 08:27:40:
Milk bottle tops of cardboard disappeared from the UK many years ago, but foil tops are still alive and well. Here in Havant, Hampshire, I had daily deliveries (except Sunday) until about two months ago, when sadly they were cut back to three a week. The milk costs quite a bit more than at the supermarket, but I can go and see the cows it comes from only ten minutes' walk from home.
My dairy also still uses proper milk-bottle-shape bottles, though they say supplies are running out. Only pints nowadays, though there were quarts and half-pints fifty years ago. Most dairies have gone over to squat bottles with thinner glass, which are difficult to hold, especially more than one in one hand. I call them 'easy drop' bottles.
And yes, the foil tops are still collected for charity.
Going back to an earlier remark, one of my earliest memories is a visit to a dairy in the late 1930s (S&A period, one could say) and seeing one of those vertical coolers with the milk running down it. Except that at my young age, I was convinced the milk was running up.
There are historic 18th-19th century ice houses in India. They used to bring in blocks of ice by ship from the arctic, and use them to preserve food.