The Coronavirus-related madness that surrounds us all has changed so many aspects of our lives, it's sometimes hard to imagine that some things in the world continue, not entirely unaffected, but more or less the way they used to be. And that means that Caroline Meagher's working day still starts around midnight.
"I leave my house generally between 12 and 1 at night time. To go and drive to the depot and load up the van, it takes about a good hour to get all the milk on the van. And then I'm usually at my first drop at 2am."
Caroline is a milk woman, working for MyMilkman.ie in the Kilkenny and Waterford area. She told Ryan Tubridy on Wednesday how the pandemic restrictions are affecting business – although most customers log on to the website, some prefer that their milk delivery person call to the door weekly to collect payment:
"A lot of people like the rapport on a weekly basis. We'll have an old chat with the customer at the door, you know, the kids will come out after making cupcakes and give you a cupcake and all the rest of it. But the way things are at the minute, that's all gone."
All interaction is now online or through the post, Caroline told Ryan. Although she still has customers who will call her for a chat on occasion to discuss milk (naturally) and all sorts of other things besides.
How did Caroline get into the milk delivery business? Ryan wondered. Her father started in the local dairy in the 1970s and Caroline began helping him out as soon as she was old enough.
"I spent my young teen years making my pocket money by helping him out on his collections. And going back then about 20 years ago, my dad was stuck for somebody to help him out and I did it short term and that was the end of it, I've been with him since."
The dad retired last year, and now Caroline runs the deliveries on her own. She's Waterford's premier Milk Woman. And that means she sleeps after breakfast in the morning and get another couple of hours in the evening before she goes out on her rounds. But she's never been a good sleeper, she says. Just as well, really.
To hear the full chat between Caroline and Ryan, including Ryan's reminiscences of his time delivering milk and pick up some reading tips, just click here.
Niall Ó Sioradáin