Blueberry tart and terrorism

The blueberry tart took far too long this morning, plus I dashed off to Whitireia to get my new student card which I then mislaid. Not much reading except Dibdin's Aurelio Zen (1990), this one entitled Vendetta which I must have read sometime in the past but blissfully cannot remember. As it is written by an Englishman, this detective is reserved and a bit autistic. His mother is old, gaga and lives with him. The writing is good. It makes me realise that what makes Dibdin so readable besides his style is the fact that he makes comments that strike a chord in a reader, who nods, True, so true.
"There had been a time when such mindless acts of terrorism, however shocking, had at least seemed epic gestures of undeniable significance. But that time had long passed and re-runs were not only as morally disgusting as the originals, but also dated and second-hand."

It's actually a bad example. How can an act of terrorism be ' dated' and 'second-hand'. I can hear someone saying that in Italian and what was meant is clear: it is just a tired old repeat of what has happened before, no originality, no creative spark, but then, we are not talking about a work of art, are we? Just a plain old assassination - a successful one, a human being has died as a result.

Not good, Dibdin.

I shall read this book until I finish it.
Tomorrow shall phone Unity and find out about Saramago's Death book. I hope they've got it on order.