What, exactly, is the point of moths?

I don't like moths. The flutter and flap and fly into the light bulb and then they kind of flap around and go "I cant see, I cant see ..." and get all in your face and annoy you.

When I was admitted to hospital a few years ago, I had to go through an interview with a Very Clever psychiatrist. He asked me such genius questions as:

"Do you see things that aren't there?"

I asked him:

"If I see them, then how do I know they aren't there?"

and we kind of went round in circles for a while.

Whilst we were going round in circles, a moth was doing the same in the room where I was sat. I never took my eyes off it the whole time I was there. This really un-nerved the doctor - who may well have thought that I was watching some manifestation or other that I was imagining - but I was watching the moth.

So moths are attracted to the light. They love the light. They fly straight towards the light. We know this.

So why do they come out at night then? Why not come out in the daytime when there's this huge big ball of light hanging right in the sky? Are there millions of moths flying through space right now - heading towards the sun - telling themselves how great it's going to be when they get there?

I have been really busy these past few days. I've been really busy rubbing my lamp and looking where I want the bike to go.

One thing I didn't mention about Sunday is that I took the Tripy roadbook and recorded the route. When I uploaded it into the computer, I had a bit of a laugh - it went completely mental when we took on the enduro laps in the woods.

I've now created a roadbook for Martin to follow on Thursday. This is cheating a bit, since Martin knows the route, but it helps us determine whether or not the Tripy is the tool to use for the roadbook training we're planning to do. I'll keep you posted.

In the past two days, I got a couple of unexpected groat arrivals. First was Martin, telling me that somebody wants to buy one of my bikes. Second came today, when I discovered that I got paid and wasn't expecting it. I bought the Missus a lottery ticket - she likes lottery tickets.

We have different views on lottery tickets. She loves the anticipation that - possibly - it coule be worth a million quid. The glee on her face when she's scratching it is lovely to watch. I love the quantum physics aspect of it - it is both a winning lottery ticket and a losing lottery ticket at the same time - until you scratch it then it's both of them. Just like Schroedinger's Cat.

Anyway, we won twenty quid.

And, speaking of quantum physics, this really made me chuckle. The Wee Yin had a school trip today, to some place where there were peacocks. The Missus asked the Wee Yin to watch out for peacock feathers and, if she saw one, then to pick it up because it was good luck to have a peacock feather.

I remember having an ear-ring with a peacock feather in it. Very stylish. My Ma, when she saw it, was going to rip it out of my ear - wailing like a banshee to "get that out of her house right now". She believed that peacock feathers were very very unlucky.

When I told this to the Wee Yin, she thought about it for a minute. Bear in mind that she's only 7. She said:

"Now I don't know what to think about peacock feathers. Maybe in one universe they're lucky, but in another universe they're unlucky. I don't know what universe we live in, but maybe we live in one where they're lucky and unlucky at the same time".

Aww, bless. It's all about using quantum physics to avoid having to take sides.

I have no idea where my optimism is coming from and, to be honest, I don't care. It is unshakeable. I know that I am going to Beijing. I know that I am going next year. I just know. the world may well be trying to tell me different but, strangely, it's just background noise and I don't hear it.

I feel as though I am at the front of an unstoppable head of steam. The outcome is assured, and I just don't need to worry about it. I feel bulletproof.

I have one unanswered question though, and it's been bothering me. How tall is Kemal Merkit, and what does he weigh?

The Transorientale website had this to say the other day:

"The performance of the day came from Kemal Merkit . Starting from a lowly 42 nd place, Merkit ended the stage in 5th , producing a huge performance that belied his modest stature".

It was the "modest stature" that jumped out at me. It's obviously "modest" enough for them to mention it - but what exactly is it? More importantly, what bike is he riding? If it's small enough for me to pick up, then I want one of those.

Download the Manic Mission Information Pack for the full story ...