CHARNWOOD ELASTICS Vs THE MILKROUND

I started working for the milkman at the age of 17, (see the earlier entry THE MILKROUND) initially it was only intended to be some extra money until I left school and got a proper job. However given the uncertain nature of employment and the highly varying amounts of hours and income between the ages of 18 and 20 it made sense to hang on to it as it was only a couple of mornings a week.

When I started Charnwood elastics, I hung onto it for the same reason and somehow managed to fit it into the shift routine. The following is a typical two weeks in my working life from the age of 20.

Monday - CHARNWOOD 06:00 - 14:00  

Go bed as early as possible usually before 19:00, could usually sleep after the weekend but difficult on warm light summer nights.

Tuesday - MILKROUND 03:00 - 05:50, CHARNWOOD 06:00 - 14:00

This was the most difficult day of the two weeks, firstly it was a mad rush to get to work for 06:00. Then it was a very tiring day to keep going until 14:00, I would usually have 1-2 hours sleep in the afternoon no more as I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

Wednesday - CHARNWOOD 06:00 - 14:00

Thursday - As per Tuesday except the milk round was finished 5-10 minutes earlier.

Friday - CHARNWOOD 06:00 - 14:00, sometimes I would collect milk money 16:30 - 18:00

Saturday - MILKROUND - 09:00 - 11:00 - Collecting milk money

Sunday - MILKROUND - 02:30 - 7:00 - Longest day of the week.

My social life for this weekend would be Friday and Sunday nights.

Monday - Charnwood 14:00 - 22:00

Tuesday - MILKROUND 03:30 - 06:20

Back bed for a few hours then Charnwood 14:00 - 22:00

Wednesday - Charnwood 14:00 - 22:00

Thursday - As per Tuesday

Friday - Charnwood 14:00 - 22:00

Saturday Milkround 03:45 - 06:30, back bed until 08:45 then 09:00 - 11:00 - Collecting milk money.

Social life for this weekend was saturday night.

When I look back years later the idea of this work schedule would be frightening. However at the time I managed to fit it all in and get my sleep pattern to an almost exact science. One friend commented that I was “like a robot”. I didn’t mind doing the milkround when I was on afternoon shift as I could go back to bed for a couple of hours in the morning.

It was the day shift where I worked from 03:00 until 14:00 that was the real killer. I would often have what could best be described as a horrible unnatural tiredness. This contributed to being even more stressed out and irritable at work than normal as if I needed any more. So why did I continue doing this for another 6 years especially when I didn’t need the extra money ?????

1) Given the unpredictable nature of employment since leaving school I had no idea of how long I was going to be working at charnwood for.

2) As pointed out in previous entries I hated working at charnwood after a while and felt like I was never more than a month away from leaving the place. If I did leave and ended up getting a part time job I could do a few extra mornings on the milk to make up the difference.

3) I was so good at fitting the two jobs together that I would often go months at a time without ever thinking about it.

4) I’d spent a large chunk of my life with little or no money and felt the need to grab every last penny I could get my hands on.

5) If I had been going out clubbing every saturday night I would have quickly quit the job, but my social life was actually not that good. I hardly missed out on anything by having to go home early every 2nd Saturday night.

6) I was drinking far too much anyway, missing Friday night one week and Saturday night the next prevented me from drinking and spending much much more over that 6 years.

7) I liked working on the milk far more than I liked working at Charnwood despite the fact it paid less money.

8) The job of being a milkman was in steady decline, the amount of milk we delivered slowly declined month by month. The job got easier as the years went by,when I was 17 Tuesday morning took 3 hours 20 minutes by the time I was 25 the job took 2 hours 40 minutes.

During this time there was a few times when I did make the decision to quit the milkround once and for all. Rodney openly admitted that he wouldn’t be able to replace me. Over the years he had dozens of young people come to him for a job and most of them couldn’t cope with the very early start times.

Whenever I announced I wanted to quid Rodney would offer a compromise, he would drop the 2 mornings where I was on early shift and had to go work straight after delivering the milk which was the most difficult, I would just do the other days instead. Then after a few weeks he would ask me to do one of them days as a “one off” and before I knew it I would be back doing it all the time.

After around 7 or 8 years of doing the milkround Rodney was talking of retiring. 35 years of bending down to put milk on people's doorsteps had taken it’s toll on his knees and his back. For the last few years he worked 7 days a week and was the only milkman in Leicestershire who delivered on Sundays. I agreed to help him out until he finally finished which was in 2003 not long after I turned 26. I had been doing the job for almost 9 years by that point.

When the new man took over he had his own people to help him do the delivering but I helped collect the money on Saturday mornings for around 6 months. Then one day he told me he was giving the round over to someone else and I wouldn’t be required anymore………