Zipping in my speedy car from one group to the next, I nearly choked on my banana: the news came through of the sad demise of Paul the Octopus.
Some insiders may know that my relationship to these animals has been tricky. For many years I had an octopus-phobia. Really. I mean, how on earth could that happen? It was so bad that I could not even stay in a room with a picture of one - in a magazine for instance - let alone be anywhere near a real octopus.
Well, living in Morsum means I don't get close and personal with Octopi all that often, so I just lived with this quirk. But then my daughter turned into a marine biologist, and the symbol of Aquatica was - you guessed - an octopus.
So I decided to fight my phobia, starting with a cuddly octopus toy from Ikea. How brave I was to push that around Ikea in a shopping trolley. Then it sat around the biggest room in our house, with me giving it a wide berth. In the meantime, I kpt hearing what marvellous and wonderful creatures they are.
And then Baby Johann - after his Mom had checked with Omi - arrived for a breakfast date wearing an outfit with an octopus embroidered on the front. What could I say?
So now I don't exactly love them, but they no longer give me the screaming heebie-jeebies. And when I heard that Paul had died, I was really sad.
Find out more on: http://www.octopus.com/
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