Banned in Beijing

Or at the very least, missing, are the following:

- Sun. As I almost always remember Beijing, it is shrouded in haze and when the sun is visible, it appears to be a feeble orange orb. Itchy eyes, scratchy throat and rebellious sinuses. Brilliant.

- Facebook. LIverjournal. Google. Blogger - I can't read my own blog!  And of course various other websites

- Manners. You think you are at a nice 5-star hotel waiting for a cab, when pushy assholes blithely walk right past you.

Your withering look has no effect and neither will your planned, pointed, sarcastic remark in English.

There is a bonanza of other bans in the press recently.

1. Floatopia parties banned: People were boozing up off the shore of San Diego floating on inner tubes - YES, inner tubes. And it has been banned before I could even try it. I feel like I just died a virgin.

2. Islamists ban TV sets: From Somalia, which the latest issue of the Economist labels a "failed state". But I think the Islamists are on to something. I think there is only a place in the world for one thing at a time: TV sets or guns. Stuck here in Beijing, with almost nothing to watch on TV - not even FTV - I am glad guns are banned. I am this close to shooting myself. Ah, those Islamists!

3. Bull fights in Catalonia: Not yet, just maybe. Theme song: "Ai no corrida" (explanation: "Hay no corrida", pronounced the same way, would mean "There's no bullfight"). Yay. I am proud to say I *never* visited a bull fight even when I lived in Spain, not even invoking the  Cultural Exception Clause. About fucking time - Catalonia bans them. I wonder how much of this is to distinguish themselves from the Castillano-speakers and thus make the case for sovereignity stronger.