Which raises an interesting thought. Let's say someone rides to work every day without a bell. Say they are lucky enough to get five weeks' holiday a year, plus Christmas, and a couple of days off with a hangover or whatever. That's 45 weeks x 5 days, or 225 journeys into work a year. Suppose they perform the exact same flashy manoeuvre without a bell every morning, and come to absolutely no harm for four years in a row. Clearly then, they are an expert at not having to use a bell, and their judgement of what is safe is sound.
The thing is, would you fly in a plane without a bell, if that plane crashed and burned without warning on average every 901 journeys?
The truly skilled bell operator must first learn not when to use the bell, but when not to use the bell.
Eventually his or her skill at not using the bell will be such that like my own, the bell can remain, unrung, in a drawer at home next to some old electrical fuses, pegs, etc.
Which raises an interesting thought. Let's say someone rides to work every day without a bell. Say they are lucky enough to get five weeks' holiday a year, plus Christmas, and a couple of days off with a hangover or whatever. That's 45 weeks x 5 days, or 225 journeys into work a year. Suppose they perform the exact same flashy manoeuvre without a bell every morning, and come to absolutely no harm for four years in a row. Clearly then, they are an expert at not having to use a bell, and their judgement of what is safe is sound.
The thing is, would you fly in a plane without a bell, if that plane crashed and burned without warning on average every 901 journeys?