Blackberry or blackberry

On the trip I blogged about last time, the ferry to Campbeltwon was cancelled two days before we were due to go. Campbeltown is quite a tricky place to get to without taking a car, and I ended up on a convoluted route across Arran, undiginifiedly summiting the Bougillie and putting my bike on the ferry across to Claonaig. By the time I was on my way down through Carradale (NCN route 78), energy was low. Luckily the roadsides there are 'jam'-packed (hoho) with bramble bushes all growing fat bumper brambles. Three stops to cram my face and I made it to my B&B. When I got home, friends invited me to go bramble-picking one Sunday on NCN75 (canal towpath) and the Water of Leith and I've now got 9 jars of bramble & apple jam. Apparently we've been eating brambles forever - pips are often found in human waste at archaeological digs - but in 2007 the word blackberry was dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. "For blackberry, read Blackberry" said Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words (see a few blogs back), referring to the fact it is now defined as a mobile phone rather than a fruit. Sigh. Some work to do here. But in more immediate reference, according to folklore (and, thank you, National Geographic webpage) a giant angel battle between Michael and Lucifer meant that Lucifer was banished from heaven, fell to the floor of hell, becoming the devil and landing on a thorny blackberry bush. He cursed the bush and spat on it, meaning no berries should be picked and eaten after St Michael's or Michaelmas Day which is....today. You have been warned.