I bought a set of bicycle lights the other day. On the back of the pack of one of the lights was the warning

Do not use flashing mode on public roads as this is a contravention of highway regulations

If it is illegal to have a flashing tail light on a bicycle why do manufacturers build in a flashing mode?

I also wondered this about cars. Apparently it is possible to limit the speed of a motor vehicle. So if the national speed limit in the UK is 70 miles an hour max (on motorways and dual carriage ways) why not limit the speed of all cars sold in the UK to the legal maximum?

And why are Starbucks allowed to sell coffee that is scaldingly hot? Apart from the fact that it makes the coffee taste crap (which happens when you put water that’s too hot onto freshly ground coffee. Any decent coffee should be made with boiled water that’s been left to stand for at least two minutes to cool), you end spending the day with a burnt mouth and are unable to taste anything, let alone be able to speak to voice your displeasure with the awful cup of coffee you had that morning. They also insist on serving their coffees in thin paper cups with a cardboard ring to hold the cup with rather than a second cup because it’s more “environmentally friendly” and less wasteful.

Hello? McFly? If you turn the heat of the water down then a) the cup will be hot enough to hold without the cardboard ring so you will be even more “environmentally friendly” and even less wasteful b) your customers will be be able to drink their coffee straight away rather than waiting for two hours for it to cool down to an agreeable temperature which won’t cause second degree scalding and c) not turning the thermostat up to 11 and keeping your water at a cooler (i.e. less than boiling point) temperature will, surprise, surprise, use less energy and be more enviromentally friendly and less wasteful!

Mind you, people who drink Starbucks coffee wouldn’t know a decent cup of the black stuff if it accosted them in the street, introduced itself, smacked them upside the head with a wild salmon caught in the river Teifi and then went back to their house to have intimate sexual relations with their pet dog.