Monday 1st October 1934

A day of rushing. Rushing through meals and from one thing to another. Rushing from Waterloo to the Poly and from the Poly to Waterloo. Rushing to work and from work (no cycle, it is being repaired).

I enjoyed the few minutes of relaxation on the way to town. A carriage to myself and a pipe of Barney’s. This was my first day in the Lower Grinding Shop (Distemper Dept.) and consequently I often felt an ass. Especially when I first entered in the morning and self-consciously walked down between the mumbling mills.

Put in the care of Davis, the Deputy Foreman, and worked at his mill, slapping in distemper with a sort of large butter pat. Foreman Ellis, by the way, looked after me right to the end. When I arrived at 8.30, he was warming up my overalls in front of a fire. “Good day!” he yelled above the din, as I crossed the yard to my new shop…

Note: When I have more leisure, perhaps next summer, I must try and write in narrative form, all I remember of the days which came between Fading Light and Volume Two. Many titles come to my mind – Between, Lost Threads, Previously Unchronicled, Break in the Story. The period is an interesting one for it was a time of change. I am a different man now from the emotional boy of last June.