Pointless yet amusing curiosity
Apr. 30th, 2004 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoThis is not a furry post, particularly, though it does mention a cat and a horse who may or may not have existed. You have been warned.
One of the interesting things about being a librarian is that you get to see and handle an awful lot of books. If you like books, that's generally pleasant. If you don't like books, you probably aren't a librarian.
Anyway, one of my long time fascinations is the things people use as bookmarks, which they often leave in the book. Interestingly enough, I found one in a personal book of my own today. I do not recognize it. It may have gotten in there when the book was lent to someone else, or it may have migrated there from another book somehow. This book was printed in 1976, but the "bookmark" is much older.
It is a green slip of paper with a printed form on it. The milkman's bill. Now I'm old enough to remember milkmen, but certainly not as old as this bit of paper, which is filled out by the Express Dairy Co. Ltd. of Tavistock Place, London, England. It appears that in the week ending 25 April 1936 (!) salesman number 737 delivered to Mrs Blake of 24 Broomfield Rd a total of two quarts of milk, for which she was to pay one shilling tuppence. Yellowed along the edge, written with a fountain pen or possibly even a dip pen, this is certainly authentic. I have no idea how it came to be in my possession halfway around the world and over 65 years later. One hopes that Mrs Blake remembered to pay her tab and wasn't cut off by the dairymen.
I was amused to note that they delivered very small quantities in those days. She seems to have received only a half pint of milk each day, except on Sunday when she took a pint. Obviously this lady only used milk in her tea, or else gave it to her cat perhaps. A frugal lady. She used no butter, nor did she take cream, even though that apparently could be delivered in quantities as small as a penny's worth.
An interesting peek into the past, I thought. I wonder if the dairy still used horse-drawn wagons too. It's certainly possible that they did, as such were still in use in the United States later than that. Thank you, Mrs Blake, for the little distraction.
But how on earth did it get here?
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program...
One of the interesting things about being a librarian is that you get to see and handle an awful lot of books. If you like books, that's generally pleasant. If you don't like books, you probably aren't a librarian.
Anyway, one of my long time fascinations is the things people use as bookmarks, which they often leave in the book. Interestingly enough, I found one in a personal book of my own today. I do not recognize it. It may have gotten in there when the book was lent to someone else, or it may have migrated there from another book somehow. This book was printed in 1976, but the "bookmark" is much older.
It is a green slip of paper with a printed form on it. The milkman's bill. Now I'm old enough to remember milkmen, but certainly not as old as this bit of paper, which is filled out by the Express Dairy Co. Ltd. of Tavistock Place, London, England. It appears that in the week ending 25 April 1936 (!) salesman number 737 delivered to Mrs Blake of 24 Broomfield Rd a total of two quarts of milk, for which she was to pay one shilling tuppence. Yellowed along the edge, written with a fountain pen or possibly even a dip pen, this is certainly authentic. I have no idea how it came to be in my possession halfway around the world and over 65 years later. One hopes that Mrs Blake remembered to pay her tab and wasn't cut off by the dairymen.
I was amused to note that they delivered very small quantities in those days. She seems to have received only a half pint of milk each day, except on Sunday when she took a pint. Obviously this lady only used milk in her tea, or else gave it to her cat perhaps. A frugal lady. She used no butter, nor did she take cream, even though that apparently could be delivered in quantities as small as a penny's worth.
An interesting peek into the past, I thought. I wonder if the dairy still used horse-drawn wagons too. It's certainly possible that they did, as such were still in use in the United States later than that. Thank you, Mrs Blake, for the little distraction.
But how on earth did it get here?
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program...
