Now Mr. Bean had another idea. Here was the answer to his problem!
He moved very quickly. He pushed the meat from his plate on to the table with the other food. Then he pretended to be very angry.
'Look, you stupid man!' he said to the waiter. 'Oh, look at this!'
The waiter got up from the floor.
'I'm sorry, sir,' he said. 'I'm really very sorry.'
The manager arrived at the table.
'I'm very sorry, too, sir,' he said. 'Oh, the food—!' 'Yes, it's everywhere!' said Mr. Bean. 'Look! It's in the mustard pot. It's in the bread roll. It's in the vase of flowers.' He took the woman's bag from the floor. 'And it's in here!' He pulled open the back of the violin player's trousers. 'And here!’
The waiter couldn't understand it.
'Go back to the kitchen,' the manager told him, and the waiter went away. Then the manager turned to Mr. Bean. 'Please, sir,' he said. 'Come with me.'
'What?' said Mr. Bean. 'Oh, yes, all right.'
The manager took Mr. Bean to a clean table.
'Sit here, sir,' he said.
Mr. Bean sat down.
‘Thank you,’ he said.
The manager opened Mr. Bean's napkin. Then he got the birthday card from the other table. He put it on Mr. Bean's clean table.
'Thank you,' said Mr. Bean.
The man with the violin came across and played 'Happy Birthday' to him again. Mr. Bean smiled. Now everything was all right.
'Now I can start again,' he thought. 'And this time I'll do everything right.'
The waiter arrived at Mr. Bean's table. He put a plate in front of Mr. Bean. The manager smiled and took off the cover.
Mr. Bean looked down.
And he stopped smiling.
There, in front of him, was a very large plate — of steak tartare!
The Launderette
A lot of Mr. Bean's clothes were dirty.
'I'll go to the launderette this morning,' he thought. 'I'll take the car.'
He put his dirty clothes into a very large black bag, and took the bag out to his car. He put it inside. Then he got in and drove to the launderette.
The launderette wasn't very busy that morning. Before Mr. Bean arrived, there were only two women there. The younger woman was with the launderette manager.
'I've got to wash a lot of clothes,' the young woman said to the manager. 'I'll want a big washing machine.'
'This is one of our bigger machines,' said the manager. 'Use this.'
At that minute, Mr. Bean arrived. He had the black bag on his back, and he couldn't get it through the launderette door.
'Oh!' he said.
He pulled and he pushed. He pushed and he pulled. In the end, he got the bag inside. He took it across to one of the washing machines.
'Money,' he thought. 'I want two one-pound coins for the washing machine
.' He took two one-pound coins out of his jacket and put them on the top of the machine.
But then Mr. Bean saw a note above the washing machine: Machines now cost £3.
'Oh, no!' thought Mr. Bean. 'Have I got another one-pound coin?'
He looked in his jacket and his trousers, but he could only find a five-pence coin. He put this on top of the washing machine.
Then Mr. Bean remembered something. He did have another one-pound coin, but...
He looked round.
The young woman was next to the big washing machine.
Mr. Bean saw her putting some clothes into it. The launderette manager was busy in his little office.
'Nobody's watching me,' thought Mr. Bean. 'Good.'
He opened the front of his trousers. Then he started to pull out some string.
The young woman turned suddenly and saw Mr. Bean pulling the string out of his trousers.
'What is that man doing?' she thought.
Mr. Bean saw her looking and turned away quickly.
But now the older woman looked at him. Her eyes opened wide. 'That's a strange man,' the woman thought. 'He's got string inside his trousers!'
On the end of the string was some paper, and inside the paper was a onepound coin. Mr. Bean smiled. He took the coin out of the paper and put it on the top of the washing machine. Then he put the five-pence coin back into his jacket. Next, he opened the washing machine.
A man came into the launderette with a bag of dirty clothes under his arm. He was young and strong. When he saw Mr. Bean, he smiled. But it wasn't a nice smile. He didn't say 'Hello' or 'Good morning'. He pushed Mr. Bean away from the washing machine.
'What-!' began Mr. Bean.
Then the young man pushed Mr. Bean's one-pound coins on to the next machine.
Mr. Bean was angry. He turned round to speak angrily — but then he saw the young man taking a white karate suit out of his bag.
'A karate suit!' thought Mr. Bean. 'So he can fight. Perhaps I won't say anything.'
The young man pushed his white karate suit into the washing machine. Then he put some money into the machine and sat down on a chair. He took a magazine out of his bag and began to read.
Mr. Bean started to put his clothes into his washing machine. There were some pairs of underpants.
'Monday,' he said, and he put one pair into the machine. 'Tuesday' He put the next pair into the machine. 'Thursday. Friday.