I now realise it has taken me a while to work out why the traffic is not as bad as I had been told. I may be preaching to the converted, but on my way to the broadcasting centre this morning it dawned on me! All the privately owned cars’ registration numbers ended in an odd number! I checked on the BOCOG – Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Phew! Hate Acronyms but that is a different subject for another day!) website and they confirmed that they were operating an ‘odds and evens’ system for traffic during the games.

It seems to be working. Don’t get me wrong the traffic is still bad, but not a patch on what it would have been had all cars been allowed on the road. I remember at the Olympics in Seoul in 88’ and they operated a similar system there but they did not take account of the number of people who simply bought another pair of number plates, risked prosecution, but just switched the plates on a daily basis to fall in line with the system!

The broadcast centre is like a morgue! The worlds press and television/radio companies have deserted Beijing in their droves. NBC from the USA had over 2000 staff here for the Olympic Games. They still have their giant office with their own private Starbucks with a total of………………………….. 5 staff! Such is the interest in the States of the Paralympic Games. More to the point that is the level of interest by their advertisers in the Paras’.

The BBC is supporting the games, and how! Coverage every day and if you are lucky enough to have the Red Button at your disposal, you can even go interactive.

Phil Lane is the Chief Executive of the BPA (Here we go again! British Paralympic Association) and he has a fascinating statistic at his disposal – “20% of the athletes who are competing for GB in the Games were able bodied at the time of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000!” Indeed there is one member of the team who was involved in a car accident only three years ago, was paralysed due to a broken spine and is competing for his country now.

There are some incredible stories to be told at the Paras’. I hope we can scrape the surface!