As far as I can tell, at least in the world I live in (“world” denoting, of course, that circle of society, culture and urbanity that I move in every day in the, er, speckled group of islands in the Pacific Ocean), gone are the days of town milkmen who take away your empty bottles and leave fresh new milk in glass bottles in the wee hours of morning. After all, who knows what random person might sneak away one or two for a few extra pesos?
This time, I’m thinking in liters of water instead of bottles of milk.
As a general thing, my family uses a telephone (talk about modern) to dial the purified-water store near our subdivision to ask them to deliver 3 one-liter bottles of purified water to our doorstep. (Being a second-story house, accessible only by a steep staircase, this makes the delivery quite a feat.) We trust the water boys enough that the payment is left taped to the inside of our screen door for them even when we’re out. That’s the basic routine, and has been for years.
Earlier this week, for once, in the spirit of clearing up a tiny bit of space in our cluttered little home, someone put the empty water bottles outside the front door. There they stayed, quite forgotten, in the company of a little white dog and our passing shoe- or slipper-clad feet as we entered and exited our domain.
Came Saturday, and a late breakfast; one of the rare weekend moments when the entire family sits down together at the breakfast table. Then the little white dog barked twice. As far as we know, he only barks when playing with his inanimate toys that he pretends are… well, animate. Mom wondered aloud, “What’s he angry at now?” And then a voice at the gate! Dad went to investigate, and came back to us laughing.
The water boy? But we hadn’t called! Well, he’d told Dad, he had seen the bottles outside the door and had come by to take them away and leave fresh bottles of water in their place.
Wasn’t that just sweet?
After almost a year in the city – how precious this whiff of country charm, of modern milkmen.
random ramblemate 
It sounds like a trip back in time. I imagine puffy clouds on a sky painted shades of blue and red…and the squeaks of seagulls over the swishing of the ocean. I hear Hawaiian music. I want to lick a Popsicle on the porch while waiting for the water delivery…but I’d rather get water from the tap if it’s safe.
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Wow, you make it sound so idyllic! How I wish I could hear the ocean and seagulls from home. Thanks for dropping by 🙂
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Forgive me if I am forgetting something…you are from a place near the beach but living elsewhere now?…London or something like that?
Thanks for having me. 😀 Rock that ponytail. It’s always a pleasure to see your smile. 🙂
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There’s nothing for you to forget really, since I haven’t given away much, so, nothing to forgive 😉 anyway, no I haven’t ever lived by the beach, but certainly I didn’t live far from them before. Except now. It’s mostly city and the beaches are hours away.
Anytime! :))
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