Imagethief is sometimes surprised at which posts drive the big discussions. I certainly didn't expect yesterday's throwaway on smelly taxis to be quite the lightning rod that it has been.

But has it got me in trouble with the state?

I ask because this morning Chris, a producer from BBC Radio Five in London who is an Imagethief reader, called me on my office line for a brief interview on the great stinky taxi controversy.

First, I'd like to point out that one should never try to say "Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress Conference" during a radio interview. Total buzzkill. I don't know what I was thinking.

More importantly, moments later I was explaining the Beijing city government's desire to appear anything but "rural" during the Olympics when, mid reply, the phone line dropped dead with two terse beeps.

Chris obligingly called back, but seconds after we resumed the line went mysteriously --and beeplessly-- silent again.

So Chris called me on my mobile phone and we finished the interview with no further interruption.

Now, I am familiar with the vagaries of the Chinese phone system. While it's less than perfect, it's not prone to spontaneous dropping of land line connections. To paraphrase a common saying, to lose one line seems like misfortune. To lose two seems like carelessness malevolence. We all know how much the Chinese government likes the BBC. And, of course, it's NPC/NC-CPPCC/NCC1701 time in Beijing right now, which always makes for a bit of extra paranoia.

So, did some computer-assisted spook in the Chinese phone system put "BBC" together with "Governement" together with "NPC, better cover my ass" and torpedo my connection?

Or was I just unlucky?

We'll know if I get a knock on my door in the middle of the night.