BEING of an inquiring mind, I frequently find myself pondering over seemingly (to me) unsolvable paradoxes. For example – why does a hot iron glide over a cotton shirt and a hot plate is difficult to grip with oven gloves? How does the petrol pump nozzle manage to switch off the flow when the tank is full, thereby keeping your shoes dry? How do ice cream van chimes work? Why does Lydney have a train station but no trains? Why is there an entry fee into Wales (is it not a free country!). Why does Gloucestershire Highways fiddle while the roads disintegrate? And so on...

All these questions have assumed an inferior status lately by a question that bothers me from time to time. Why is it, that during the hours of darkness, Dean Hall School is lit up with enough sodium lamps to serve a small town? I have observed this phenomenon on numerous occasions – weekdays and weekends, it makes no difference, even once at four o-clock in the morning. Yet there is nothing happening – no activity of any kind.

The latest observation was even more ironic. I was driving past at 9pm last Monday, listening to a programme on Radio 4 about our Dear Leader's dream of carbon neutral, eco-friendly schools throughout the kingdom. All the while, I was bathed in the glow of orange light.

Joking apart, there must be reasons why there are so many lamps and why they are continuously lit. Maybe other readers will be able to 'throw some light' via the Review letters page. – W. Wylde.