I'm inconsolable as always at the close of these Olympics.

Sport If our hyped eight minutes of the Olympic closing ceremony were meant to offer a taste of what our life is like in modern Britain these days, it pretty much succeeded. It does piss down, we do spend a hell of a lot of time waiting at bus stops and when we do try and get on board the way is blocked by school kids and the sound of Leona Lewis blasting out from the speaker on a mobile phone or Led Zeppelin from an ipod and there'll inevitably be someone kicking a football around on the top deck. That is of course the cynical view of something which couldn't please everyone and has obviously been carefully thought out, and the opening of the top deck of the bus was very eye-catching as was the violin player. I just wasn't dazzled. When Armando Ianucci mentioned on Radio 4's Charm Offensive last week that David Beckham would be kicking a football from the top of a London bus it sounded like one of his flights of fancy.

Far more entertaining was the appearance of Boris, striding towards the ceremonial podium a salute here, thumbs up here, a small man trying to wave a very large flag. I felt a pang of regret that Ken Livingston wasn't in his place after all the work he did in bringing the Games to London, but as demonstrated in the post-show interview on BBC News, Ken just didn't have the ongoing element of verbal jeopardy as his successor. Boris was quick to point out that at the London opening ceremony there wouldn't be thousands of people being moved around like small dots of colour which is about the best description yet of the overwhelmingly pretty, spectacularly nice ceremonies we've seen. Though I hope the London closing is better than the one at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, where we subjected the former colonies to S Club 7 and a set from some local DJ.

Otherwise, I'm inconsolable as always at the close of these Olympics, blubbing more than once through each of the montage sequences showing British successes and failures. To repeat the rest of the media (what do you mean I'm not in the media?) this has been an amazing games for local sport and though the athletics have been disappointing, there have been enough signs that the youngsters having their first taste of major competition will be fighting to return at London 2012 because they know what's there to win or lose, and what it means to stand on the podium. But that's true in many of the events; Tom Daley's an inspiration -- I wish I'd been that articulate at the age of eighteen -- and so long as his confidence doesn't turn to arrogance he's sure to win a medal in four years.

I've also enjoyed the BBC's coverage. Waking up with Adrian Chiles and Hazel Irving or Claire Balding has been a refreshing change to the middle England groping BBC Breakfast, watching the sporting headlines of overnight achievement through bleary eyes and shooting awake during a rerun of Rebecca Adlington's startling win. The commentary team have been superlative, just as passionate as us to see British success, often shouting and screaming along with us at home. One of my favourite non-sporting moments were the shots of a certain swimmer being chased through the Tienanmen Square by locals under the impression that he's Michael Phelps, shouting "I'm Steve Parry from England" at the top of his voice. At the other end of the day, Radio Five Live's Drive programme has brought the atmosphere through Peter Allen and often Dom Joly in the centre of Beijing often chatting up a storm with the tourists or getting the athletes to open up in ways which might not happen with a camera in their face.

Ultimately then this has been a great games. The Chinese authorities still have a to lot to learn about freedom -- of the press, of their people to protest, of letting those who might not necessarily agree with them politically to live their lives. There's talk that the Olympic experience for spectators hasn't been spectacular (and I loved that Steve Redgrave at the climax when asked so Britishly complained about the food), but for this armchair fan of the non-spotlit sports it's been a blast. As with last time, I will be following a bunch of these athletes going forward but unlike last time there'll be no big announcement, no published list to jinx anyone. For the next four years the Google News Alerts will be my friend and hopefully next time, more good people will be able to follow there dreams. See I'm not as cynical as you thought, and really rather a cliche, so much of a cliche in fact that it's inspired me too.