Kill them all

I have blogged about what happened in this cathedral 800 years ago on my Book Maven blog: wwwbookmaven.blogspot.com (no dot after www)

That was 22nd July, in the middle of last week.So I thought about it as I went round Sainsbury's.

The day before I had been talking about my books with a group of 20-something American students in London. Three hours flew by for me; I don't know if they did for them but one has become a Facebook friend and another wrote me an e-mail. We talked a bit about Twilight.

It came as a shock to realise that they would have been in High School for 9/11.

On the other days I managed to write a chapter and a bit of the new adult novel.

On Friday I was back in London again to look at Flats with middle daughter - what a hard time it is for young professionals. The housing market turns out to be pretty buoyant just in that pocket where she and her partner are looking.

I read Julian Barnes' Nothing to be Frightened of - an extended essay on his fear of death, beautifully written. It was sad to think that since he wrote it in 2006, his wife, the literary agent Pat Kavanagh, had developed a brain tumour and died in months. I can't help thinking about how it affected his own fears.

Barnes is a great Francophile - I wonder if he thought about Béziers this week?