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The Octopus That 'Ruled' London

Ermintruder

Ermintruder

The greatest risk is to risk nothing at all...
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
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See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35705504

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Scientists have long pointed out the extraordinary scale of genetic differences between octopuses and most other animals. But the creatures also had the power to inspire terror in Victorian Britain.

Adults paid sixpence and the under-12s got in for half-price. Queues spilled into the grounds of Crystal Palace in autumn 1871 as the public waited for a glimpse of the biggest sensation in London.

It wasn't a freak show or a demonstration of the latest technology that attracted them, but a creature that had been around for millions of years, living in every ocean.

An advertisement in the Times informed potential visitors to Crystal Palace's new aquarium the chance to view "thousands of living creatures of the sea", but what everyone wanted to see was "the wonderful Octopus, or Devil Fish".
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The article goes on to theorise (convincingly) that HG Wells perhaps based the shape of his 'War of the Worlds' aliens upon this (then) rarely-seen creature.

The point that the octopus is so very different from other taxonomies in existence is intriguing and intuitively no real surprise to the modern reader.

It's tempting (though conceptually lazy) to fantasise that perhaps the octopus and it's kin are not originally from this world at all. Many authors apart from Wells have subconsciously considered this, I suspect....
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Or...a nude Dalek
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And, not forgetting that some hugs should always be declined...
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I shall appreciate this alien race all the more, next time I spot them terrorising Morrisons' fish counter. I feel it is my duty to rescue humanity by devouring as many as I can along with their close relatives olive oil and garlic! :clap:
 
Funny you should say that. I was in a Morrisons the other day and there was a good sized whole octopus on the fish counter. Don't see that in Tesco.
 
Ermintrude said:
How many squid would Morrisons need, to buy the whole mollusc?
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I've bought small ones pre-packed and they were not dear. IIRC their octopus comes complete with guts and ink-sac; the baby squid - previously frozen - are usually reduced to tubes and tentacles but their eyes need poking out.

Makes my mouth water! :)
 
A surprising amount of small squid is landed at Newlyn fish market, judging by the regular photos on the Through the Gaps blog.
 
oldrover said:
Do Morrisons regularly sell octopus?
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Yep, they do .. I used to be a Morrisons fish monger .. they're tricky little buggers to prepare for the ice bed, you have to peel off two skins for starters + water blast the sand out of all the suckers! .. each one takes a long time to do until you get better at the job, I used to hate preparing them because head office would always send more of them at the same time as the murderous half price salmon Christmas promotion (we had to fillet every one) .... I remember my boss being away one Christmas, I found a few larger lumps of ice so made a little rock pool for them to be displayed on and in .. not company spec to do that (and Morrisons are obsessed about 'company spec') but I did it anyway ..
 
Swifty said:
I used to be a Morrisons fish monger
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Sympathies! Morrisons are notoriously bad employers. The trouble is that local fishmongers have been driven out by the supermarkets and Morrisons led the wave of replacing them with their ice-strewn displays, winning several awards for their services to fishmonging - ironically!

I prefer to buy my fish in Bury Market, where rival traders compete under one roof for custom. The quality is better and their prices undercut the supermarkets, exposing their profit-margins.

Otherwise I fall back on Morrisons. The other chains have also introduced fresh fish counters, employing, I assume, the traders they have replaced. :(
 
JamesWhitehead said:
Sympathies! Morrisons are notoriously bad employers.
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They're phenomenally bad employers Jim ... one girl that worked there one day phoned in to say she was going to be late to work because she'd just been beaten up by her boyfriend ... when she arrived, face bruised, she was dragged into a punishment session for being late. That pretty much sums up Morrisons.
 
I'll admit to quite liking our nearby Morrisons but being a bit revolted by the fruit 'n' veg / bakery / fishmonger area which is creepily signposted 'Market Street', and looks like a weirdly choreographed Disneyland concept of cheery yokels hawking fresh produce. In this locality the nearby outdoor markets are thriving, but it's obviously symptomatic of an attempt to replace genuine local economies with theme park alternatives - which are not necessarily cheaper once you factor in the cost of travel.
 
Frideswide said:
photos!!!!!!!
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This is my old fish counter and that's my old co worker (not David Cameron obvs) ... I didn't take this pic ...

edit: On seconds thoughts, I'm not 100% certain this one is my old counter but it's almost identical and the fishmonger is the spitting of my old co-worker if that's the case ...

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Swifty said:
This is my old fish counter and that's my old co worker (not David Cameron obvs) ... I didn't take this pic ...

edit: On seconds thoughts, I'm not 100% certain this one is my old counter but it's almost identical and the fishmonger is the spitting of my old co-worker if that's the case ...

View attachment 2250
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Is Dave saying 'So are you quite sure you haven't got any pig heads?'
 
Swifty said:
Yep, they do .. I used to be a Morrisons fish monger .. they're tricky little buggers to prepare for the ice bed, you have to peel off two skins for starters + water blast the sand out of all the suckers! .. each one takes a long time to do until you get better at the job, I used to hate preparing them because head office would always send more of them at the same time as the murderous half price salmon Christmas promotion (we had to fillet every one) .... I remember my boss being away one Christmas, I found a few larger lumps of ice so made a little rock pool for them to be displayed on and in .. not company spec to do that (and Morrisons are obsessed about 'company spec') but I did it anyway ..
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Do they sell a lot of them then? I didn't think many people went for them. I love the rock pool idea by the way.
 
Andy_X said:
I'll admit to quite liking our nearby Morrisons but being a bit revolted by the fruit 'n' veg / bakery / fishmonger area which is creepily signposted 'Market Street', and looks like a weirdly choreographed Disneyland concept of cheery yokels hawking fresh produce. In this locality the nearby outdoor markets are thriving, but it's obviously symptomatic of an attempt to replace genuine local economies with theme park alternatives - which are not necessarily cheaper once you factor in the cost of travel.
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That struck me. It was like two different shops. A big huge shelved area, which looked pretty average, which reached by a fairly feeling upmarket fresh veg/fishmonger area. Strange. Especially as the branch in question is in a place which reminds me of Bosch in the rain.
 
oldrover said:
Do they sell a lot of them then? I didn't think many people went for them. I love the rock pool idea by the way.
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Thanks and no we didn't .... we ended up having to shrink wrap and put then on the chilled shelves at mark down prices. If we though we could get away with it, we used to that and not even put them on the ice. They were a pain in the arse.
 
drbates said:
I miss the vegetable misters.

And of course the Crewe one has the Strategic Reserve of steamtrains hidden under it and the clues are blatant.
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Well, quite. That wasn't mist for the vegetables...
 
I thought they worked quite well on the fresh herbs.

Normally placed at the entrance to the store, they gave a theatrical touch! :clap:
 
I remember Morrisons trying to make a big PR noise when they closed their stores for refurbishment a year or so ago about how they were going to transform our shopping experience or some such guff. I believe the term Retail Theatre was used.

All it seemed to amount to was that the fish counter got bigger while the broccoli was enshrouded in clouds of mist like it was fecking Spinal Tap.

I haven't noticed any octopi but I'll keep an eye out for them when I'm next in.
 
graylien said:
Yes, those misters didn't last long. Why did they take them out?
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They're no longer needed now that the Strategic Rail Reserve has finally fallen victim to austerity measures. Meaning there's no longer any steam to be vented through them at Crewe Morrisons, meaning they could take all the other ones out of the stores nationwide as there was no further need for the deception.
 
graylien said:
I remember Morrisons trying to make a big PR noise when they closed their stores for refurbishment a year or so ago about how they were going to transform our shopping experience or some such guff. I believe the term Retail Theatre was used.
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Retail theatre? And they used this phrase in material supposed to make you warmly disposed to the whole affair?
 
Krepostnoi said:
Retail theatre? And they used this phrase in material supposed to make you warmly disposed to the whole affair?
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I had the misfortune of working under the 'leadership' of Dalton Phillips, creator of the dry ice veg counters.

Morrissons, like all major supermarkets, are so full of shit and ridiculous schemes. When I was there they had the 'HOT SERVICE' scheme .... department managers were given a small notepad of these HOT tickets and were expected to wite things like "I saw Jenny Smith help someone with their bag of shopping to their car. Well done Jenny, great HOT SERVICE!" .... some people became obsessed with getting these tickets, not because of the bottle of wine or box of chocolates you won at the end of each month if you'd been awarded the most tickets but because if you didn't win any ? ............ you were dragged into the office to be told you were being monitored. The department managers also got the same treatment if they didn't write enough of them so they became a form of barter between the staff and the department managers : "Paul, if you sweep my floor for me tonight, I'll write you out a HOT ticket for tomorrow".

I got my hands on a blank ticket, didn't I !!!!? :)

.... after scanning it, cut and pasting it in computer to get a few on an A4 sheet, I printed maybe 100 or so off, carefully cut them out and shared them out between my most trusted co-workers so we could plant fake HOT tickets on the HOT board .. one of my favourites (not mine) was "I saw Allan working on Isle 5 when a customers baby was sick on the floor. To save her any inconvenience, Allan quickly scooped up the baby's sick and ate it. Well done Allan, Great HOT service!"

edit: One guys last ever shift at Morrisons

 
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graylien said:
Yes, those misters didn't last long. Why did they take them out?
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Why indeed? My friend who works for a well-known supermarket bloc was entranced by them - as though he'd been granted the privilege of working on the set of a high budget pop video with a sci-fi theme.

Mind you, he is a hopeless drunkard.
 
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