13. Summary of the lesson "Packing"

The lesson "Packing" is an extract taken from Jerome K Jerome's novel "Three Men in a Boat". The lesson opens with Jerome feels proud of his packing skill. He told his friends, George and Harris, to leave the entire packing to him. To his surprise, they readily agreed. This was not what Jerome intended. His idea was to instruct George and Harris to do their works. But his friends sat leisurely and made him feel irritated. Later, Jerome started packing. When he was trying to strap the bag, Harris asked him whether he packed his boots. Jerome was annoyed because Harris informed him about the boots at the last moment. He opened the bag and kept the boots inside it. It was then he remembered about his toothbrush. He unpacked his bag, but he couldn't find his toothbrush. Finally, after going through the bag over eighteen times, he found it inside a boot. After realising that they did not have enough time, Harris and George told him they should take care of the remaining packing. They started packing the hamper by breaking a cup. Then Harris placed a strawberry jam bottle on a tomato and squashed it. Later, George stepped on the butter, which he eventually scraped out and placed on a chair. When Harris sat over it, the butter got stuck on his back. They looked for all over the place. Finally, George found it on the back of Harris. Later, they put it in the teapot. Their packing became more complicated with the addition of Montmorency (Jerome's dog). Montmorency created a mess in between their packing. It came and sat over the things to be packed. Then Montmorency destroyed three of the lemons pretending like rats. Later, George and Harris finished their packing at 12.50 a.m. The three of them decided to go to bed. George asked them when he should wake them. Harris said seven, and Jerome said six. This led to a debate between the two, and finally, they agreed to be woken up at six-thirty. When they decided to tell the time, they found that George had fallen asleep. Later, Harris and Jerome thought of making fun, so they placed the bathtub near George's bed and went to sleep.