I think the captain in Jaws (played by Robert Shaw?) expressed the need for a bigger boat on realising the size of the shark he was after. For my part I decided I needed a bigger bell for my bike owing to the seemingly infinite number of people using the Tarka Trail who are hard of hearing.
The original bell was one of those lightweight devices where you flick one bit against the other producing a rather tinny "Ting, ting" sound. This seemed either not to register with anyone or annoy them in some way. The new bell, all shiny chrome and the size of . . .I dunno, an ice hockey puck? . . .makes a reassuring clanging noise similar to a cow bell. I'm still weighing up the correct way to use this in alerting people to my presence. Too far away and they get fed up waiting for you to pass; too close to them and they dive in to the hedgerow, obviously fearful of being mown down.
At least I use my bell, which is more than some cyclists - mainly the ones in the stretchy lycra with lots of writing on it, although that's not meant to be too critical of them. Cycling has been something of a salvation for me this year and although I only commute, and only when it's dry, it has given me something in my life I can focus on which is, largely speaking, mine and mine alone.
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