Abstract Blackberry

The first blackberry this year.
Looking at this berry I reflected a little on my life in the 50's and 60's as a kid growing up on the edge of London. Blackberries were a wild plant and offered free food and a slight adventure, defended as they were by so many thorns, and located as they often were on land that wasn't exactly public. As we hunted for this fruit we moved through many alleyways, large gardens, the nearby golf course, woods, and the local railway tracks. We were allowed the freedom to be wild kids in a way that seems impossible for modern children in a British city.
Now, in mid-Sweden blackberries are a rare luxury. Only a few tough varieties can survive up here and even they need to be carefully placed in a sunny sheltered place.  I certainly hope no wild kids browse past, eating my precious fruit!