can understand FAA/IR's getting upset to a degree
I assume you mean "up to a degree, I understand FAA/IR's getting upset".
The degree to which the FAA/IR's themselves are upset varies according to the following parameters :
- having been the recepient of disingenuous communications both orally and in writing by reasonably to extremely generously paid European civil servants and politicians
- having invested a non-negligeable amount of time and money in flight training and currency experience which threatens to be become invalid or very cumbersome to convert
- having witnessed first hand a regulatory process devoid of democratic control, transparency or proper statistical or scientific motivation
- having been the victim of discrimination
In motorsport we often use the term "The spirit of the regulations", and as soon as you try to use the letter of the regs to your advantage, knowing that it wasn't what was originally intended, it's always a short lived benefit. I know this doesn't 100% apply here, but it's close.
Being a PPL for less than 1 year, I don't think you grasp the situation here. I also think you are unaware of either the history, the spirit or the letter of the regulations. If you were, you would probably be more upset.
In transport, as opposed to motorsport, we don't often use the term "the spirit of the regulations", because regulations in the transport sector
infer a direct cost. That is why it is imperative that any regulation has a properly balanced and motivated safety reason behind it.
Imagine the following regulation, not entirely dissimilar to the situation we experience now :
"UK drivers who wish to use their motor vehicle on the continent should sit an exam to assess their capabilities of driving on the right hand side of the road as well as their knowledge of traffic regulation differences between the UK and France, Germany and Italy".