Roboshark

Last night E, aged 7, got very upset - to the point of tears - over the demise of Roboshark. We had caught the second half of a documentary, narrated by that nature stalwart, Sir David Attenborough, about sharks. A lot of the footage was captured up close and personal by a mechanical shark - Roboshark - which was equipped with state-of-the-art camera gear.

The experiment was going well as far as bronzed whalers and other more innocuous species went. But Roboshark got a bit too close to a Great White, and paid the consequences. It was last seen falling to the bottom of the ocean, its little red light blinking and finally stopping, the camera screen going fuzzy and then to black. It made me think of a Dalek dying.

Anyway, it was all a bit much for my sensitive son. He knew it wasn't a real fish, but still keenly felt the loss. A pen drawing of Roboshark to take to bed with him went some way to appeasing him. Bless his sweet nature.