Friday 27th October 1933

Early shift. The most unpleasant moment is at 3.15, when the alarm screams. I wake violently in the arctic blackness and convulsively switch off the noise. The other two were late in arriving this morning. I waited. Quiet and cold. Went to the river which flows nearby. Sinister, cold and silent.

Afternoon. Staines. “Cavalcade”. A decent seat high up in the balcony. Good Heavens! The deck of the Titanic. “If we were to die tonight…..we can never be so happy again”. The war scenes. Marching men. Whirling faces. Laughing, desperate, tired, exultant faces. “Twentieth Century Blues”. Jazz, communism, irreligion, peace talks, noise and confusion. The last New Year toast. “Dignity, Greatness and Peace”. I feel as though I want to be the reformer of England. I feel that I want to shout and deny, “Twentieth Century Blues”. This generation of young men and women is the last there has ever been. I want to lead Young England to make New England. All this is the effect of “Cavalcade”.

Found a sinister hempen rope about 15 foot long, knotted to the bell at Magna Charta gate. Took it in; mine if nobody claims it. Coiled on the floor beside me now.