Autumn already?

Okay, so it is only the second week of August but here is the evidence that autumn is already here. No, I’m not talking mellow fruitfulness and the smell on bonfires in the air. Nor am I talking early morning autumn mists, turning leaves or the buggering off of the swallows to sunnier and warmer climes. I’m talking those well known harbingers of the third season of the year… blackberries.

I discovered my first wild blackberries of the season today; and I have to tell you that not only were they decidedly out of season, but out of their usual hedgerow habitation too.

I found these growing in the shrubs at our local Aldi. I’d gone there to pick up a few essentials – cheap red wine, cheaper beer, a German sausage or two, a device for cleaning guttering which will go in the shed and add to my collection of Aldi ‘good idea at the time’ devices; including branch loppers, extending window cleaning sponges, spiral weed removers and an inflatable birdbath.

I don’t quite know what shrubs they plant in the ‘verges’ around the Aldi car park - they look like a few dead rambling roses and some heavy duty intruder-resistant hedge spike trees – but buried in the tangle I found the most fruit laden bramble I’ve ever seen. Anyway, I tasted a couple of the deep purple berries and… nectar! The sweetest, bitterest, juiciest blackberries I’ve ever tasted in all my long and grumpy years. So much better than those tasteless supermarket-bought excuses and even better than the rained-on blackberries we pick from our lane in Wales.

Luckily I had a plastic bag in the car and in just a couple of minutes I had a good sized portion despite the odd looks from the people queuing in their cars to wait their turn for a space in the completely packed (as always) Aldi car park.

They are going to taste great along with my home made vanilla ice cream and a splash of five-year-old sloe gin after supper.

Oh well, an early autumn does have its consolations I suppose. I wonder if there are any mushrooms about?