THE JOY OF SWISS SKI BINDINGS

M O N D A Y,  2 0  F E B

Poor Mummy has the most vile cold and feels terrible.

In Religious Instruction we discussed what sort of things we want to do in the evenings in the Sixth Form Unit when it opens in September. Jacqui, of course, had to bring up boys. Then she said, casually flicking her plait to one side, "one of my friends, who's working on the Unit at the moment" (i.e. a workman) "told me the tiles won't be ready till March..." Which was completely irrelevant to what we were talking about but she HAD to bring it in. She thinks she's so superior.

Did a crossword in French Conversation, honestly, Mlle Tronchard's voice, it puts me in such a swoon.

My skis and boots arrived today. The Swiss bindings have lovely red straps to match the skis and I wore the boots all evening: they're marvellously comfortable.

“At dinner Pa and me had an argument about civilisation... again”

I suppose we are living in a bad time. The towns are not only becoming uglier, but bigger, and the countryside is becoming less and less. There are still an awful lot of people living in terrible conditions. But this is where I disagree with him. In the olden days there were even more people living in ghastly conditions. He says there were not - most people lived in the countryside and though they were poor they were well nourished and happy. Anyway, what century are we talking about??

I think Daddy forgets people are miles more broad-minded now, especially about religion, and the working class are not the underdogs anymore.

In bed I read the papers, the Times and the Guardian - first time for ages. Interesting to compare them. Big thing about drugs in The Observer - it's very much in the news.