Victor starts the day in a wonderful mood, which lasts all of five minutes until he gets confined to his garden shed with a swarm of bees on the outside. Later, he is asked to be a baby-sitter by his niece, Iris.

Victor Meldrew: (to wife Margaret, after standing on a rug in the bedroom) "I don't believe these bloody rugs! How the hell do they keep moving across the floor? What do you do, oil the carpet?"