Tinkerbell

I followed this bloke into town yesterday who was the most vocal and aggressive rider that I have ever seen. If a car made one false move, he absolutely bellowed at the driver (and the driver generally meekly responded). He rang his bell regularly and furiously. In fact he rang it so often, it was quite loose, and it would tinkle everytime he hit a small bump in the road (which is about every 10 feet in Sydney).

I have never seen anything quite like it. I am more the reserved type, given that if you annoy a driver too much, he can just run you over like a bug. It was interesting however to tail this bloke and see (and listen to) him in action. I might have to give this hollering thing a try.

I might need a new bell too. When I was coming home in the rain the other night, the bell turned into a wet squib. I need it most days to warn pedestrians as I am coming up behind them - I give them a warning bell or two to let them know that I am about to shoot past them. That way, they don't go "Eeeek!" as I zip past them, even if they are well over to the left. Since bikes are so quiet, you can scare the crap out of someone who is zoned out as they walk. So I do the polite thing and give them a warning.

But the bell just couldn't cope with the rain. I had to ding it a few times, and instead of a nice clear "TING!", all I got was a "blug", and a very sad and quiet "blug" at that. You can buy air horns that make a ferocious racket, but I think that I already have enough junk hanging off the bike, so I'll give the air horn a miss. However, I will give the old fashioned bell a bit more thought. I think my problem is that I have a new fangled bell that is much small than the old style thing (which looked like a yo-yo lying on its side). The new things look like a thimble, and whilst they are good in the dry, they are useless in the wet.

Maybe it is trying to tell me something, like there are nights when the best thing to do is catch the bus....