I'm not sure the meaning of the last stanza:
"When in fact he was trying to calculate
just how many packets it would take
to bring Basildon to a complete standstill."
Can anyone help me please?
All it means is that while the teacher was expecting him to be appalled at his thoughtless behaviour and considering how awful it would be if everyone dropped litter and it accumulated, he was actually attracted to the idea of bringing somewhere to a complete standstill and trying to work out just how much more litter he'd have to drop to achieve this! She thought he was repenting, he was actually plotting.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2021 04:49AM by marian222.
The boy looks as though he is sorry because he is hanging his head when in fact inside he is scheming and calculating how many packets he would have to drop to fill Basildon!