The best laid plans...

I've just finished a 30 day writing stint at my home in Majorca, and had planned everything so that I could catch the plane back to London on Tuesday, which usually takes, door to door, 4-5 hours. But unfortunately, along with hundreds of thousands of others, I've had to rearrange my life because of a volcano in Iceland. I get up tomorrow morning at 5am, drive to the ferry port, ferry to Barcelona, and a train from there to Bilbao. There are no available ferries until Wednesday, so I have to spend the day in Bilbao, although this is no great sacrifice as the city has three amazing galleries and lovely restaurants. The following day I take the overnight ferry which will get me to Portsmouth late Thursday afternoon, from where I will take a train to Waterloo and hopefully get back just in time for the second political debate at 8pm.

The first debate was a revelation. I read with interest in the press that the Prime Minister and Mr Cameron will come fighting back. My own experience of my running days was that if you were beaten by someone you hadn't noticed before, they're quite likely to beat you again the following week. But it will be fascinating to see if the Prime Minister or David Cameron are able to get to grips with Mr Clegg and even knock him out. All of us will know on Friday morning.

I have also sent in the edited proofs of And Thereby Hangs a Tale, for publication on May 21st.

Can I end by thanking so many of you for writing to wish me a happy birthday on my 70th last week. I was only surprised by the number of good wishes I received, as I'd tried very hard to keep it a secret.