9.2.1976

Sold a couple of copies of Challenge today, though this is not exactly the best time of year to ask my fellow students for money. Times are hard....for everybody without money. Money can’t buy happiness – but it has a damn good try! Have realised that this present Communist upsurge has got to be fuelled and harnessed. I must make contact with these professed kindred spirits. Discovered two more today. Robinson and Wilcher (some relative of mine by marriage). Organise, Educate, Agitate!!

Rich is still dogging our company; despite earnest attempts to make it obvious that we have rejected him totally...god knows what France is going to be like!! If he thinks he’s hanging round with me, boring me to death about calculator batteries or something similar... it’s just unbearable!! Going against all my principles of compassion for one’s fellow man, Richard evokes nothing in me save nausea and despise. He is a parasite, a dead loss, a mean penny-pinching drag.

Had a long discussion (and very informal it was) with Mo, who seemed concerned about my seeming lack of attention in class. He asked if the recent trend towards flippancy was symptomatic of something bigger. It shows his genuine concern, but the other more general things we discussed enlightened me greatly. This has inspired me.