TUESDAY 21th NOVEMBER 1979

Kim and I spent a lot of time - playing.

Lots of charging around and trying to fight one another. I feel a bit silly and a lot self-conscious, but I don’t seem to be able to stop myself… I also feel like I am playing a part in a play and from time to time I sprout the kind of dialogue that I would have refused to use if presented by Raven or Graham. In short although I am enjoying myself hugely I am also feeling stupid (Er... more stupid than usual....)

Love makes you crazy and lowers your IQ? Wow!

Editors note: Its worth bearing in mind that despite being close friends, the attitudes of Powell, Johnson and Cook to the opposite sex were wildly different. Mark, although a realist, seems to have been bitten badly by the love bug in terms of how it changed its outward appearance and character. As will become apparent later, there is considerable evidence to suggest that he would consistently mis-judge the situation and react in an inappropriate manner.

For Johnson it was a channel for a streak of romanticism that was to find outlet in a series of portraits and montage images. Steve would also use bouts of drinking to allow for actions that he would later come to regret.

For Cook arguably the most realistic of the trio, it lead to a series of early writings and like his colleagues a considerable amount of time in various pubs engaged in councils of war cum drinking sessions. It is also interesting to note that Cook although evidently infatuated was even at this early stage enough of a nascent political animal to use his association with Kim to find out more about some of the prefects nominally under his control.