The Milk and Bread Brigade

They don't come out often. Only during the winter months. How often they come out depends on the severity of the winter. If it's a snowy winter, they come out a lot. If it's a mild one, not nearly as often. The timing of when they come out is predictable. When there's a snowstorm in the forecast. When that happens, they leave the safety of their homes to invade supermarkets. Who are they? There are the Milk and Bread Brigade.

They are a paranoid bunch. They don't believe the world will end in 2012. They think Armageddon will come with the next snowstorm. They are more fearful of old man winter than they are of the coming of the Anti-Christ. When snow comes, they most go to the supermarket to get some milk and bread. It's wasn't always that way.

Here in New England, the Milk and Bread Brigade was formed on February 6, 1978. If that date sounds familiar, it's the date of the Blizzard of '78, a once in a lifetime snow event. The Boston-Providence areas was buried in over two feet of snow. Yours truly spent a good portion of that day stranded in a school bus. The region was crippled for days.

The only thing that the Milk and Bread Brigade seem to believe that every major snowstorm is a potential Blizzard of '78 Part II. I got my first experience with the Brigade as an employee for the Valueland Supermarket in Fall River, MA. When one day I showed up to work and dealt with a seemingly endless line of customers. As a said, the Blizzard of '78 is a once in a lifetime occurrence. We've had other blizzards since then. Life usually returned back to normal within 24 hours.

One thing, if the world is coming to an end, there's a good chance we'll lose electrical power at some point. Which means no more refrigeration. Wouldn't you be better off buying bottled water instead of milk, which goes bad? Why only bread? How about some rice, potatoes and other non-perishables? Just making a suggestion in case of my skepticism of the coming Apocalypse is wrong. Either way, it's still only January. Chances are they'll be forecasts of a few more snowstorms. Maybe even another blizzard. When that happens, expect the Milk and Bread Brigade to make their return trip to a supermarket near you. Don't say I didn't warn you.