Happy crabs smoking on the beach … Not really! |06 September 2017

Sometimes and early in the morning I make my way to the beach finding it an excellent way to prepare for the day ahead.

Quite often what I find is the ‘after use’ of a beach especially after some ‘caring’ beach goers have made merry and left.

One recent morning I was surprised to find a little crab rifling through an empty packet of cigarettes.  It appeared to me that either the little critter wanted to take up smoking, or wanted to mimic the hermit crab, looking for a new home to carry around on its back.  

Of course neither was correct quickly realising that next to the empty cigarette pack was an empty bottle of whiskey, and next to that an empty bottle of wine, and to that several discarded plastic plates, followed by a dirty diaper, empty plastic cups, food wrappings, and empty beer bottles as well.  It became clear that in reality the crab was foraging, or itself the last guest of what was a wild crab party on the beach the prior evening.

In reality and appreciating that this little crab being totally unaware of the risks posed to it by all the left over waste, not to mention the risks posed by second hand smoking, I went ahead as I normally do, picking up the rubbish and placing the items next to the roadside. 

While the crab I assume somehow appreciated this, the rats along the trees clearly did not.  So how was your ‘beaching’ this week-end?

Thank you for the space.

Raymond K. St Ange