'It was early on Christmas morning and the snow
was almost knee deep...'
       
This snowy Christmas story tells how Tim Martin and his sister Mary round
up their friends to help poor Ernie Bowyer the milkman deliver his milk on time...

35 years before Ethel & Ernest, Mr Briggs produced this beautifully observed
tale which is obviously about his own father Ernest and the Co-op milk round
he performed for more than 30 years...

Detail in the opening illustration identifies the locale as London SW19, and
the action occurrs around Arthur Road and Home Park Road - the self-same
roads trodden by Ernest Briggs during his Co-op days...

The little details on Ernie's milk float, the interaction between the kids, with
simple trails of pen marks to decipher their progression through the snow - it
really captures the spirit of the time and place - much like Midnight Adventure
and The Strange House before it...

The lead character name of Tim Martin appears to be a combination of the
first name and surname of the stars of those two preceding books, Tim
Rogers and Gerry Martin - or is it simply coincidence?


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