diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8faca29..b8fc69d 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 * Version 2.21 unreleased
 
+  * Fixed a problem that caused ykval-queue to terminate if the database
+    was not available initially.
+
 * Version 2.20 released 2013-01-31
 
   * Add ChangeLog generation using git2cl.
diff --git a/ykval-db-pdo.php b/ykval-db-pdo.php
index 3032490..15d300a 100644
--- a/ykval-db-pdo.php
+++ b/ykval-db-pdo.php
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class DbImpl extends Db
     $this->db_username=$db_username;
     $this->db_password=$db_password;
     $this->db_options=$db_options;
+    $this->result = null;
 
     $this->myLog=new Log($name);
   }
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ class DbImpl extends Db
    */
   public function closeCursor($result=null){
     if(!$result) $result = $this->result;
-    $result->closeCursor();
+    if($result) $result->closeCursor();
   }
 
   public function truncateTable($name)