Same old story

I was planning to go to the final of the Men's Wheelchair Rugby with some mates today.

The plan foundered because they omitted to get in touch with me until about half an hour before kick-off. A rather too common occurrence here in everybody's-so-preoccupied-with-their-frenetic-lifestyles-that-they-can't

-organise-a-piss-up-at-a-brewery Beijing.

I wasn't really too regretful, because I am still miserably ILL. A rather too common occurrence here in the high stress and seriously toxic environment of Beijing. (I've been more or less continuously ill for 6 or 7 weeks now, and I'm starting to get a bit panicked about it.)

It's probably just as well I didn't go, since the skies opened in another torrential thunderstorm just around kick-off time. A rather too common occurrence here over the past month or so; you may recall that I got caught in downpours almost every time I went to the Olympic venues last month - something that is perhaps not entirely unconnected with my wretched state of health of late.

I was hoping to catch the game on TV at home, but...... well, only one of the national television channels (and none of the local ones) seems to be carrying full-time Paralympics coverage (whereas nearly every channel was showing something from the Olympics last month). And the editors here have no interest in showing the final of an event in which China is not represented. Oh, no: let's have an entire evening of wheelchair table tennis (re-runs of earlier matches and documentaries about the Chinese players, as well as live coverage of tonight's Men's Team Final)! A rather too common occurrence over the past month or two - when the always dismal local TV coverage of sports has reached new lows.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I fear we are in something of A RUT here.