My Kind of Superhero – The New Age Milkman
Forget superman, the modern superhero is called ‘Milkman’. He’s been around for a while and has of course been joined by ‘Milk woman’. Both varieties of this particular superhero have several features that make them more attractive to modern women – and the occasional house husband. Firstly they know how to put their clothes on correctly – impressive considering the early starts they have to make; none of your pants over trousers for these under-sung heroes. Also they have a lot more practical uses than your more flashy type of super-hero. I rarely find myself stuck on a parapet thirty floors up wearing a little black cocktail dress and screaming ‘He-elp’ in a Penelope Pitstop-esque manner; but I do find myself frequently bleary eyed in an old dressing gown wondering how we can possibly have run out of coffee, again.
Daily dilemmas
In the past that particular dilemma would lead to yet another trip to the corner shop. Not that I didn’t make at least one the day before – either during lunch or on the way home. But now, with a pint sized super-hero to hand that is all a forgotten nightmare of the past. But surely milkman and woman only deliver milk? Not anymore, they’ve been busy while we sleep and have started to stock a really amazing little range of daily essentials. Basically faced with extinction thanks to the supermarkets some local dairies have decided to fight back. These days they offer seriously competitive delivery services for just about anything you could possibly run out of- and even some things you probably didn’t even think of in the first place, from your usual milk and dairy products to bin bags and even the option to order your pet food online.
Small orders and big savings
When it comes to saving time and money on the household shopping I am constantly on the lookout for a good deal. I was dubious about online shopping from the supermarkets – quality being the main concern – but have found it makes a lot of sense and saves a lot of time. It’s certainly a good way to deal with the ‘Big Shop’. The fraught Saturday trip to the heaving and disorientating aisles of the out of town shopping centre is now a thing of the past (and of the occasional nightmare). Online shopping for the big stuff is great. However, it doesn’t really solve the small shop dilemma. Most women have an in-built stock control feature in the back of their brains. They just know when something is running out, so work those little shopping trips into lunch hours and pre or post work trips. After all, it’s hardly worth ordering a packet of tea from the supermarket; even the new people’s princess knows that.
Suburban Superhero
This is where my super-hero comes in. Not only can I order late in the day – nine pm at the moment – but the goods are delivered before I’m technically awake. The really nice bit is there’s no delivery charge. Being on an established round means that the milkman doesn’t have to charge – so even if I’ve ordered a couple of tins of cat food and a bag of spuds, they’re waiting for me first thing and I only pay the same as if I’d nipped to the shops. There’s even a feel good factor to this type of grocery shopping. Somehow I like the fact that I can have a chat with my suburban super-hero, that I’m helping a local business – none of which was true when I shopped in supermarkets. It may be unromantic of me, but I can quite honestly say that given a choice between the man from milk tray abseiling in through the window in the middle of the night and my trusty milkman trundling up the road in the early hours I’ll take ‘Milk Man’ every time!