“Thud and blunder” is a term applied by certain individuals to the gothic bands such as Nat’s. There are other divisions too. Pacifists, and most particularly Greg, are always in danger of being beaten up by those who believe that laws have only ever been changed by violence and not by “wet-arsed liberalism”. Ergo, armed revolution will be required to eradicate the constitution entirely, they say.

SUN JAN 31

Nat seems quite keen to see me, to discuss his suddenly abundant news. I am glad he finds life so full and wants to share it with me. Greg has been in contact with some anarchist group which has a large distribution network of its own: records, financing the Anarchy Centre, pamphlets etc. The group has asked the band to record another E.P. for its label. Greg is keen, Nat is wary of such overt politicising, and Jim is upset for he has heard that these people sell their wares virtually at cost price. However, all members of the ensemble are drawn by promises of sales “in excess of ten thousand units”. Ah, such is the lure of fame.

SUN FEB 21

Nat has been babbling on incessantly about “characters” who frequent the “A” Centre, as he now calls it. He obtains this erudite biographical data vicariously through Greg, who is becoming something of a social success.

One weird girl, a punk fruitarian, is called “Serpent”.

“Her mother was incarcerated in an asylum whilst still a child, for pulling the hair of one of her peers. Several decades later, in 1960 she secretly gave birth to ‘Serpent’ in an ingle-nook. At first the child was surreptitiously weaned in corridors. On discovery she was adopted as a baby by a vicar, fond of cheap toys and—ironically enough—named Pinchbeck. She never saw her mother again, but her nickname was self-coined and derived from rumours she had heard about her mother’s recalcitrance: the poor lady refused to go to the toilet for long stretches at a time. Her sphincter control was so complete that enemas could not be applied and she was invariably pinned to the floor with one nurse pressing down hard on her fat belly. A huge snakelike stool would ooze out, as thick as a wrist. Fortunately, this behaviour and its treatment only came about after Serpent’s birth”.