Just 730 more days....

The Beijing News carried a front page picture today of the construction of the "Bird's Nest" -- the National Stadium that will showcase the 2008 Olympics. An astonishing and daring structure. But what about the weather on the eighth day of the eighth month -- two years to the day when the Olympics will launch?

The air was heavy with smog. I could taste the pollution and feel the grit and grime on my tongue as I cycled to work yesterday..

Officials have given assurances that the air will be clean and the weather clear and they are certainly spending big to achieve that -- as I wrote earlier this week. And if it should rain, well, the authorities have a solution there too and have already begun testing their weather control techniques.

Anti-pollution measures promise to be numerous and they are very likely to be effective. The athletes will likely be able to breathe easily under blue skies very different from yesterday's grey pall. And bicycling Beijing could become quite a joy again.