My blogging days have been restricted what with a raft of domestic crises to deal with. A lively wasps nest at Chateau Dee have been causing aerial mayhem but why do I feel curiously guilty now 4000 of the stripey blighters have been professionally zapped by an insect exterminator? Will this create bad karma in the Buddhist sense, or am I being overly sensitive to a breed of animal that does nothing but climb up the net curtains or swim around in your pub garden pint?

In the final testing phase it is becoming clear that The Philosopher Stone system does not throw up a bet every day, in fact I've hit three days with no bet at all. But this is all good news. The strike rate when it hits is an encouraging 70% + which is more than enough to keep any panic attacks at bay.

And with no discernable link at all that I can think of: the liquidity in racing markets. There's no hard-and-fast rule here but common sense will determine how much of your bet will get matched on overnight/overseas races. A simple glance at the money in the pot is an indicator of how much you can play around with. Clearly, a race running at 2 in the morning (UK time) in the US is not going to encourage the sort of wedge you'll see lumped on a Grade 1 contest on a Saturday afternoon. So, if you are using the Bismarx bot (www.bismarck.org.uk) you should adjust your targets accordingly.

With that thought in mind I'm grabbing my fly swatter. I think I've just seen another of those pesky stingers. Crush! Kill! Destroy!......