Clever Ideas

If you've ever traveled, perhaps you've encountered something clever that you don't see in your own country.  It's clever enough that you see it and say, "Well that's a good idea.  We should have that too!" but it's a minor enough thing that you can also kind of imagine why it hasn't spread to other places.  It's not that it's not a good enough idea, it's just that it's the kind of thing that flies under the radar is all.

The cup tops like the one pictured above are a good example of one of those things.  When you get a drink at most tea places here in Taiwan, they use a machine to affix a plastic seal over the cup.  When you want to drink, you stab your straw through the top with as much or as little caveman rage as you desire.

What makes this clever is two things.

1)  The cup is spill proof until you stab through it, so if you're getting something to go, you can just toss it in a bag and not worry about it.
2)  The thin plastic cover, while still wasteful of plastic, is probably less wasteful than the usual drink tops made of hard plastic that we have in the US.  (They have the hard tops here too, usually at fast food places, but tea places tend to use the above type of top.)

So yeah, not earth-shatteringly amazing, but still a pretty good idea.

日本でもアメリカでも見た事が無いけど、台湾ではお茶屋さんでお茶を買う時に、店員は上記の写真の様なプラスチックシールをカップに付ける。これはなかなかいいアイディアだと思う。なぜならば、シールをストローで開封するまでは内容をこぼす事は無い。何も考えずに、構わずに、カバンに飲み物を投げといていいのは、俺みたいな適当人間にとって結構便利だ。また、使われているプラスチックの量がマクドなどの飲み物の蓋より大分少ないと思う。（もちろん、一番エコなのはこういう使い捨てな物を使わない事だけど、、、）

なんでこういうのは日本にもアメリカにも無いかな。（有るの？私は見た事が無い。）アメリカのダンキンドーナツ（ミスタードーナツに似ているチェーン店）がアイスコーヒーで使えそうだ。日本の場合はコンビニにでも置いて、生の冷たいウーロン茶で使えそうだ。ペットボットルが有るから要求が無いって事かな？でも台湾にも勿論ペットボットルが有る、、、

この世に私には分からない事が沢山有る！