Crunch, Crunch — What Is It?

Summary

A family's summer holiday adventure at Lake Ohrid, Albania, turns eventful when the father accidentally steps on a crab, leading to a humorous and heartfelt moment between him and his crab-loving son.

Abstract

In a memoir responding to a call for travel stories, the author recounts a memorable incident from their family's vacation at Lake Ohrid. Despite the extra travel required, they chose to revisit the lake due to its charm and the previous year's enjoyable experience. The family's time at the campsite REI was filled with adventures, particularly an evening walk where the father, John, inadvertently steps on a crab, much to the horror of his son, Timmy, who is fascinated by the crustaceans. The incident leads to a comical attempt by John to cover up the unfortunate event, inventing a story about spilled chips to explain the crunching sound and avoid upsetting his son further.

Opinions

The author expresses a deep fondness for Lake Ohrid, emphasizing its allure by choosing to return despite the additional travel.
Timmy's fascination with crabs is portrayed with warmth and amusement, highlighting his childlike curiosity and dedication to observing them.
John's reaction to the crab-crunching incident reflects a parent's instinct to protect their child from distress, even if it means concocting an improbable story.
The author humorously critiques John's lie as unconvincing, suggesting that they pride themselves on being a more convincing liar in such situations.
The overall tone conveys a sense of endearment towards the quirky and unpredictable nature of family holidays, cherishing the memories created through both planned and unexpected experiences.

A memoir from Lake Ohrid to escape from the virus

Ohrid Lake (photo by Author)

In response to Trisha’s call for travel memoirs, below you can find one from my family’s last year summer holidays. Escape from the virus and have fun!

Last year our family visited the Peloponnese in Greece, however on our way there we decided to spend two days at Lake Ohrid in Albania at the lovely campsite REI. As a matter of fact, we had to travel some extra miles to get there, but we’d enjoyed the stay at the lake so much the previous year that we knew it would be worth it. And the time there turned out full of adventures like the one described below.

Late evening, pitch dark as it can usually get at lakes. My hubby John with our son Timmy were walking together to the toilet. As men usually do, they went together holding hands.

All of a sudden, crunch, crunch under John’s foot. Both of them stopped, Timmy’s eyes welled up with tears, John’s eyes enlarged with fear.

Why did it all happen to their eyes?

Well, Lake Ohrid is famous for numerous crabs strolling everywhere, on shores, terraces, walls, on floors of open-air restaurants, in outdoor sinks or washbasins, in tents at campsites. Our little son fell completely head over heels in love with those little cutie creatures. Like a professor of natural science he would observe them for hours. He would examine their lifestyle by crawling after them on land or with a diving mask on stones in water. As if he’d planned to prepare a revolutionary dissertation about crabs’ habits, practices, dreams, dreads, pains and doubts.

In that context under John’s foot…crunch, crunch and, as a result, one pair of eyes full of tears, the other pair full of fear.

“What to say in such an awkward circumstance?” John wondered.

Lying came first to mind as the answer, as it always does in life in general.

Timmy shouted exasperated, “Dad, how could you! You’ve murdered a crab!”

“No, no, son, not at all! I mean it definitely wasn’t a crab, noooo. It crunched like that because…hmm, because…hmm, because…a-ha! SOMEONE HAS SPILLED SOME CHIPS HERE! Yes! There you are! That’s why it crunched like that! CRUNCHIPS — CRUNCH, CRUNCH! You see?”

What can I say?

My husband clearly hit bottom as a parent.

My lies are usually way more convincing.

And here you can admire an example crab from the lake:

Photo by Author

Isn’t it lovely?

Crunch, Crunch! What Is It?

A memoir from Lake Ohrid to escape from the virus