Monday 6th December 1937

If all selling days were like this! Started at 10a.m., was home again by 4p.m and finished my office work by 5:30p.m. Half an hour for lunch. Ten calls – in Leigh, Hadleigh, South Benfleet and Canvey Island. Four orders. That’s 40%! The orders were small but two of them were new accounts – and good accounts! Fielder Estates Ltd, and AH Beaumont, Canvey Casino. Another unusual piece of fortune – at 9 of the calls I saw the right man. 90%! I’ve never been so lucky before. So I felt full of pep all day – a real salesman. I took four orders, heard a complaint and received a cheque for an overdue account. No wonder I whistled wild Scottish airs as I came home!

Evening: 193 Battery for a lecture (all we get nowadays). Very cold and muddy. Demmer and I sat at the back of the class, whilst Captain Bailey talked about “Allowances for abnormal conditions”. At first we took notes and tried to become interested in his calculations – “If the change of temperature is 65 degrees and the barometer at Battery height is 30.18 degrees and the ballistic temperature is 57 degrees then the Normal Ballistic Height Correction of Section is – 2.98%”.

After trying to follow the drift of this for some time, Demmer sat still and looked bored, whilst I played noughts and crosses – my left hand against my right.

When the lecture ended we went to a little café and had tea and cakes, with another dubious disciple – Ward. We talked about the good old days – last summer! – when BHC and other rot was not mentioned.