Graham and Marriott received their ‘Pinks’ after the match on Saturday so now we have two ‘pinks’ in the House I am glad to say. I nearly disgraced myself by gurgling out loud with amusement in ‘Hall’ today when I saw Marriott’s butterfly collars, the first day he is allowed to wear them!!! (Only School Monitors, Heads of Houses, VIIth, House Monitors and Pinks may do so.) I have been chortling all day on the subject of ‘how to show you are a pink on the first day you are one’. I gather from observations that the first important thing to show is that you are now a ‘blood’ (people so soon forget!!). You therefore pull you handkerchief just down beneath you cuff so a corner drops out, in a gentlemanly manner; you have your hat ironed; you interlace your conversation with ‘damns’ which is a racy and smart thing to do; and you wear the pinkest of pink scarfs. You are then mightily important, you are then ‘the very pink of society’.
I have had a shock. Smurthwaite came into Inner this evening and asked to be relieved of the duties of lag of Hall as ‘there was someone below him who only makes toast’ while he has to make toast and fag besides being lag of Hall. He wouldn’t mention names. I said I would think it over. He is quite right but he makes so admirable a ‘lag’ that I wanted to keep him on and I thought he had been willing. It is rather cheeky of him to ask me but he did it so nicely and humbly I didn’t comment on the fact!…
I received this P.C. [postcard] from Chappie this morning.
