I finished the Jerome K. Jerome classic Three Men on the Bummel yesterday.  (Anyone who hasn't read Jerome should go out right now and pick up Three Men in a Boat.  Read it out loud to a friend!  Hilarious!)  I have enjoyed the comedy stylings of Mr. Jerome ever since my friend Tara introduced me to Three Men in a Boat which also serves as inspiration for Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog. 

Anyway, I completed the story which involves the misadventures of three now middle-aged Englishmen through the German country-side at the turn of the previous century.  There are many opportunities for readers to laugh out loud through this piece but I was touched by very last page:
"What is a 'Bummel'?" said George.  "How would you translate it?"
"A 'Bummel'," I explained, "I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started.  Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days.  But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand.  We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way.  We have been much interested, and often a little tired.  But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when 'tis over."


So, for those of you have nodded, smiled, chatted and share yourselves with me along the "bummel" that is my life, my sincerest gratitude for your enriching influence!

The original 'Three Men' - from left to right Carl Hentschel (Harris),
George Wingrave (George) and Jerome K. Jerome (J).
http://www.jeromekjerome.com/About_Jerome/three_men