A Vintage Autumn

Arguments over whether it is late summer or early autumn aside, it is turning into a vintage season for blackberries. Apparently the summer was warm and damp while I was away, and this is the result. My Surly Cross Check makes a great tool for foraging with an old tub zip-tied to the front rack, either for specific missions or simply while out enjoying the trails. Something else it does really well given there is little around here sufficiently technical to require anything more sophisticated, or indeed simply fatter in the rubber department.

On such days we often carry a small stove with supplies for a brew en-route, and not just because it is good fun to find a remote spot with a fine view for a brew-up. Since the rapid ‘gentrification’ of Cornwall as the de-facto destination for the well-heeled tourist and second home owner the cafes we used to frequent have become largely unaffordable, even the funny little ‘honest places’ that used to offer a no-bullshit mug of tea and slab of cake for a few quid are now suddenly sporting exposed brickwork, salvage timber features, and pretty much every thing else out of the ‘generic hipster style book’.. with prices to match. So we don’t bother. I’m somewhat reluctant to fork over 7 quid for a teabag and sliver of cake even if it is presented on a platter of Cornish slate with a miniature milk bottle of organic grass fed milk. At some point I imagine certain local cafes will be offering their patrons a milking stool, crafted from shipwreck timber of course, and antique bucket for the complete experience of retrieving their milk from the rare breed cow in the garden, possibly with a staff milk-maid, or “mungitrice” to leverage some Italian in addition to the barista, to assist.

It is somewhat amusing to me however just how quickly certain aspects of “western culture” are rapidly disappearing up their own respective backsides…