Will and Kate--thoughts after the wedding

When Will and Kate postponed their honeymoon it was announced that he was summoned back to work as an RAF search and rescue pilot on the island of Anglesey in Wales. It had never struck me before, but if he'd been working fifteen years ago, he might well have featured in my first Evan Evans book, Evans Above. In this book a suspicious body is found on top of Mount Snowdon and I talked with the RAF search and rescue team about how it would be brought down from the mountain.

The British press are being kind for once and giving the young couple space, although there have been reports of Kate wheeling her trolley around the local supermarket followed by two bodyguards. So all is well and they have settled into domestic bliss with no servants and an ordinary small house to take care of.

But then came the assassination of Bin Laden and my first thought was--the Brits were tipped off that it was about to happen and warned to keep Will and Kate safely at home in the midst of the British military. What do you think?

I'm off to Spain and Morocco next week, feeling a trifle nervous.

Matter of National Security

I'm home after a hectic few days zooming around the Eastern half of the US--Ann Arbor, Bethesda, Annapolis and Pittsburgh. During that time I spoke, met fans, was taken to lovely meals, hung out with friends AND watched history take place.

I was staying at my friend Marcia Talley's house in Annapolis with other mystery writers. We were just preparing for bed after a Barnes and Noble event and a fabulous seafood dinner when a voice yelled, "Get down here. The president is going to make an announcement concerning national security."
We came down in our pjs and sat looking at each other nervously. What exactly did a matter of national security mean? We discussed what we'd do if we learned that a bomber, containing an atomic bomb, was heading to the East Coast of the US. Or chemical weapons. Or terrorists in our midst were about to do.... something nasty.

It's not until something like this happens that one realizes how vulnerable one feels. My first thought was that I was safe enough in Annapolis--well out of DC. Second thought--what if they miss? Third thought--I didn't want to be so far from home.

Then we detected the hint of a smile on Wolf Blitzer's face. It was something good.
Bin Laden, one of our group said. They've got Bin Laden.
And thus it was. And the world rejoiced and it was good.

But call me a cynic.... it's a grand symbolic gesture, but he was in poor health. Had not the leadership already passed to someone more deadly? Did they perhaps want him found and taken out? And of course the ultimate question--are they really sure it was the right man and not his double/bodyguard?
It all sounded like a well planned, well executed operation so I'm hopeful that they did the right thing. My own thoughts--I'm glad they killed him and didn't bring him anywhere for trial. And I'm glad they buried him where there can be no shrine to a martyr.
BUT
I'm about to go to Morocco. I wish they hadn't done it right now.
and an afterthought...
I wish Obama had changed his name to Smith before he ran for office. It all gets very confusing.