My milkman has lost his bottle - and breakfast will never be the same again. In the past, however rushed that early morning coffee might be, it was simply a case of some gentle pressure from thumb or forefinger and - hey presto! - the fresh milk was instantly cascading from bottle to cup.
Now, the seemingly unstoppable march of the Carton Army has changed all that. The last bastion of glass bottle deliveries in Dublin, the northside, has just fallen to these cardboard colonisers, and traditionalists like myself are finding it difficult to adjust to the new regime.
For a start, we have to grow our nails, or keep a pair of scissors handy, just to open the darned things. And if, in the early morning rush, the concentration on such an exercise is less than total, much of the contents may end up just about anywhere but in the coffee cup.
Never asked
Premier Dairies supply my milk, operating under the powerful banner of Glanbia (formerly Avonmore/Waterford). They tell me that, like other Dublin households, I voted for the change by making it clear to the distributors that I wanted cartons, not bottles.
The truth is, I was never asked. Had I been, the answer would have been the exact opposite. For me, only those with a perverted desire to inflate their blood pressure would favour the frustration of Tetra Paks over the simplicity of bottles. In addition, the loss of that reassuring clink of dawn deliveries - confirmation that things are being put in place for the new day - is something I will greatly miss.
Sadly, the statistics seem to show that I am in a minority. According to Brian Reid of Glanbia's marketing department, glass bottle deliveries in Dublin have been falling steadily for years and have now reached the point where it is uneconomic for the company to continue them. The message from consumers, he says, is that they find cartons much more convenient - "they don't want the hassle of having to wash and put out bottles."
Special efforts have been made over the years to boost bottle deliveries, he claims, citing promotions linked to the Irish World Cup run in Italia '90 and the Dublin Millennium celebrations. Apparently, they have had little effect on the decline.
But Trevor Sargent, the Green Party TD and glass bottle campaigner, sees things differently. The switch to cartons, he maintains, is dictated by company economics and has nothing to do with consumer preference. His prediction is that, having got rid of bottles, doorstep deliveries will be the next target of the cost-cutters. "I expect they will be phased out in about five years," he says. "I even have a bet with Glanbia management that's what will happen."
Call for action
Like the rest of us, it's now milk cartons only in the Sargent household in Balbriggan, though he refuses to concede that the battle to save the bottle has been lost. He recently raised the issue in the Dail, calling for action on the environmental implications of the latest surrender to the Carton Army.
The Government, he complains, should be discouraging companies such as Glanbia from creating additional waste. "Ministers should have invoked existing waste management legislation to prevent bottle deliveries being phased out. Instead, they opted to do nothing," he says.
His parliamentary postbag suggests there is "widespread concern" about the loss of such deliveries. "I get letters from people all over Dublin about this. They're angry and frustrated over what has happened and they feel they haven't been given a choice. I have a letter here from a family in Artane, who say they are cancelling their milk order with Premier in protest at the switch to cartons," he says. Mr Sargent is now planning his own protest. He intends to collect all his used cartons and deliver them personally to the Glanbia depot in Tallaght. "If other customers follow suit and make a similar protest, maybe the company will get the message," he suggests.
Like the conscientious environmentalist that he is, he has been washing and pressing his cartons and taking them with him once a week to Leinster House, where they are collected for recycling. Making the collection is Kerbside, a private company which operates under contract to local authorities with financial support from Repak, the recycling agency funded by Irish business.
Kerbside employs a staff of 50, makes weekly collections from 70,000 households in the Dublin area, and claims this will shortly be extended to 100,000. The cartons, with other packaging, are baled and stored before being exported to France and Spain for recycling.
No choice
But for Mr Sargent the issue is the unnecessary creation of extra waste, plus the fact that those who would prefer to have their milk delivered in bottles are no longer being given the choice. "If consumers want to ensure they are listened to, then they have to be prepared to take action," he warns, as he contemplates his first protest delivery of empty cartons to Tallaght.
Support for his campaign is not confined to Dublin. One of the messages of encouragement has come from Cork, where the Dairygold company, Cork Milk Products, makes daily bottle deliveries to 13,000 households and 200 schools.
"Why should the people of Cork be so different from those of Dublin, in wanting their milk in bottles rather than cartons?" he asks. "Does that not make a nonsense of what we are being told."
Perhaps it does. But in the end, will we just grumble and accept what commercial interests decide is best for us, as we have done in so many other areas? Good luck to the redoubtable Mr Sargent in his fight. He certainly has my support. I just wish I had his bottle!