My Family and Other Animals: Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

After the family makes it through customs, they wind their way through the quay. Larry walks quickly and with a disdainful expression on his face, followed by Gerry, Leslie, Margo, and Mother, who looks harried and annoyed. Roger (the dog) drags Mother to a lamppost to relieve himself as Larry loads the luggage into one horse-drawn cab and engages a second to carry the family. Larry grouses that Roger is a nuisance. Finally, Roger finishes and the family lifts him clumsily into the cab.

As the cab moves through town, Roger lets his head hang out of the window. The cab goes past an alley where four local dogs are lying in the sun, and Roger barks loudly at them. The street dogs immediately race after the cab and bark back, and Leslie struggles to keep Roger from leaping out. Soon, two-dozen dogs are chasing the cab, and Larry yells angrily that the family looks ridiculous. Leslie suggests that Larry help, so Larry grabs the driver's whip and cracks it at the dogs. He hits Leslie and then Mother's hat, and Mother tells Larry to be careful.

Finally, the cab reaches the hotel. Larry seems to enjoy himself as he waves the whip at the street dogs while Mother, Leslie, Gerry, and Margo haul Roger, still snarling, into the hotel. When they're all inside, Mother turns to the manager and informs him of who they are as though nothing is amiss.

The family all take naps and then congregate downstairs for dinner a while later. Larry is thrilled with Corfu thus far, but Mother tries to seem noncommittal. Leslie is annoyed, as the manager couldn't bring him toilet paper. Margo pipes up helpfully that the toilets all have boxes full of paper. Larry snorts and informs her that the paper in the box is used. Horrified, Margo races back to her room and douses herself in sanitizer, while Mother insists that they must find a house before they all get typhoid.

It doesn't help Mother's peace of mind that all afternoon, the family can watch funeral processions to the nearby cemetery out their windows. The processions are ornate, and Gerry decides that this is the best way to die: colorful decorations and satisfyingly upset relatives crying openly. Gerry watches them all afternoon as Mother worries that there's an epidemic in town. This sends Margo into hysterics, and Mother declares that they must find a house in the country immediately.

Mr. Beeler, the hotel guide, drives Mother and the Durrell children around the island the next day to look at multiple villas. Mother rejects them all and Mr. Beeler finally asks what's wrong with all the villas. Mother, astonished, says that they don't have bathrooms. Distraught, Mr. Beeler asks why she wants a bathroom when the sea is right there. The next day, Mother decides to hire a car and hunt for a villa with a bathroom herself. Leslie, Larry, Margo, and Gerry are unconvinced they'll find such a thing.

In the town square, the taxi drivers converge on the Durrells and loudly fight for their business. Gerry explains that it was terrifying, but the drivers' altercation was actually mild by Greek standards. As Mother becomes more flustered and Leslie angrier, a loud voice, speaking English, booms over the crowd. It belongs to a short, hammy man in an old Dodge who introduces himself as Spiro. He explains that he knows of a villa with a bathroom, and the family climbs into the Dodge.

As Spiro drives, he tells the Durrells that the English always want bathrooms. He also tells them that he used to live in Chicago, where he learned English. He insists if he weren't Greek, he'd be English. He drives past olive groves and, finally, stops at the top of a hill. Spiro points to a pink villa overlooking the sea.