Although octopuses are generally not touchy-feely with each other (Octopuses on Ecstasy, 21 September), perhaps they are better at being friendly with other species. I can empathise with that! On holiday in Turkey I came across a smallish octopus, tentacles less than a metre, slithering between rocks. We held each other’s arms and tentacles for several minutes before we parted. It seemed friendly, interested and tactile. I felt honoured.

Veronica Leat

Northam, Devon

• I wish you would stop describing Aldi and Lidl as discount retailers (Tesco discount chain aims to woo back the bargain-hunters, 20 September). Lidl has two tins of tomatoes – whole and chopped. Tesco has 43. They are just efficient retailers, hence their lower prices.

Peter Murray

Bristol

• I suspect each family had its own traditions regarding crimping Cornish pasties (Letters, 22 September). In 1908 my grandmother, on her engagement to a member of the Cornish mining diaspora in West Cumberland, was sent to Aunt Bessie in St Austell to learn how to make pasties. Her pasties were crimped one side only and were delicious. As you can imagine with a surname like mine we too can trace our origins in Cornwall back several centuries so I suspect variations in appearance were common. Content is another thing!

Peter Crowle

Norwich

• Bassett’s Cafe, Looe, Cornwall, in the 1960s made the second-best pasties I’ve ever tasted. They were crimped over the top, not the side. My grandmother (a Plymothian and, of course, the best pasty maker) always crimped hers on the side. This has the same feel about it as the controversial jam over cream (Devonian) or cream over jam (Cornish) question where scones and cream teas are concerned. I too am from Plymouth but prefer the Cornish solution for cream teas and I always crimp my pasties on the side. Do I live in the right county?

Gary Bennett

Exeter

• Am I to understand that “top-crimpers v side-crimpers” is the new “jam-firsters v cream-firsters”?

Patrick Wallace

London

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