Drifting
Connolly left Balliol in 1925 with a third class degree in history. He struggled to find employment, while his friends and family sought to pay off his extensive debts. In summer he went for his annual stay at "Sligger" Urquhart's chalet in the French Alps, and in the autumn went to Spain and Portugal. He obtained a post tutoring a boy in Jamaica and set sail for the Caribbean in November 1925. He returned to England in April 1926 on a banana boat in the company of Alwyn Williams, headmaster of Winchester College. He enrolled as a special constable in the General Strike but it was over before he was actively involved. He responded to an advertisement to work as a secretary for Montague Summers but was warned off by his friends. Then in June 1926 he found a post as a secretary/companion for Logan Pearsall Smith. Pearsall Smith was based in Chelsea and also had a house called "Big Chilling" in Hampshire overlooking the Solent. Pearsall Smith was to give Connolly an important introduction to literary life and he influenced his ideas on the role of a writer with a distaste for journalism. Pearsall Smith gave Connolly £8 a week, whether he was around or not, and gave him the run of "Big Chilling".
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