I enjoyed the challenge of this one and it also reminded me of two occasions while on holiday in England visiting my mother-in-law when Eddie and I went picking Brambles or Blackberries (aren't they the same thing?). The first time was in 2000 on a disused railway embankment. It had been raining and Eddie said "Be careful, it's very muddy here!" and suddenly I went whoosh.....down the slope in that very same mud! I had a pleated tartan skirt and a cream waterproof jacket on and as I slid down the embankment, I landed face down in a prickly bramble bush. Eddie was horrified until I started giggling - my skirt had caught on the Bramble bush while the rest of me kept sliding, consequently there I was in the mud, all knickers and legs while my skirt bore the brunt of the prickles. Somehow, in the middle of the slide, I deposited the bowl of berries right side up on the ground.
Second time was much more civilised. In 2010 we wandered around an area of waste ground next to my mum-in-law's place which had been a coal-yard but which was now completely over-run with spindly trees and hundreds of prickly Brambles. We took a bucket and filled it to the brim then I went home and cooked up a storm. I made Blackberry pies, Blackberries to go with custard or icecream and Blackberries in jelly and when we went home to Australia, I left Mum with lots of little bags of frozen Blackberries to use later on. Sadly when we returned three years later, the whole area had been taken over by a housing development but I will always have fond memories of our "brambling" adventure.
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