The last straw

In my room I’ve got a makeshift washing line set up by tying a fluoro lime green cord from an air vent to the wardrobe door, and back up to the other air vent.

I set it up to dry some shirts about a month ago when it rained after I had hung the load out. Now, since it has been raining and generally miserable weatherwise of late, I was forced to do my washing and hang it all inside. I had two shirts, a pair of jeans, a few pairs of undies, three tea-towels, two bath towels and an assortment of socks to dry. I left the tea-towels in the laundry and started loading up the washing line in my room. I started with the heaviest items, the bath towels, at the bottom and worked my way out. The line filled up fairly quickly, so after the two bath towels, both shirts, the jeans and the undies were up I was left only with a few small spaces for the socks. I picked up one sock from the basket and laid it on the line. The wardrobe, in my peripheral vision, started leaning forward slowly, destined to crash into my TV. I removed the sock and righted the wardrobe. I placed the sock back on the line; the same thing happened.

I now understand the phrase “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.