8.30 am

Hodmandod Minor has just left for his AS chemistry exam. He seems to be more apprehensive about this than his other subjects and was muttering last night about how much there is to remember. The door slams and the house is quiet.

In the newspaper this morning there was an article about J K Rowling going to a gala and last night I read in a magazine how Amanda Ross, who runs the Richard and Judy book club, has made several authors millionaires - and how David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas was one of her favourite books. I am linked to both of these authors by editors and it struck me how extreme this business of publishing is - it seems to be either all or nothing.

Ready for spinning now - I just have to ring the arena to see if there is a place when it opens at nine. Until then I get on with some work.