Saturday, October 11, 2014

Keeping Evil Spirits away

Lord Rutherford discovered the structure of the atom. He was a pillar of the rational Victorian scientific establishment, and so it came as quite a surprise to his fellow scientists when they saw that he had a horse show nailed over the door to his laboratory (pointing up to catch the good luch, 'natch). When asked if he believed in all that rot, he replied, Of course not. But I am assured that it works whether or not I believe it.

Those new to the motorcycle community may find themselves similarly mystified as Rutherford. Many motorcycles have small bells mounted on them, bells that catch the evil spirits and bad luck. As someone trained the same rational scientific world view as His Lordship, I was skeptical.

Well, I'm here to report that it works whether you believe in it or not.




The bell gave its all for rider and bike. Got a new bell now. Don't know if I believe in this sort of superstitious rubbish or not, but it appears to work whether I do or not.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nomenclature failure.

I suspect Rutherford's concept can be extended to mean "Belle" not "bell". Which means, I guess, that had Mrs. Borepatch accompanied you on the trip you would have taken a different route, or the same route at a different time, and avoided the difficulties.

Or, perhaps, you should have taken one of Murphy's dogs.......

NotClauswitz said...

Some riders out west attach deer-whistles with a similar purpose.

juvat said...

Whether it works or not, I'm just glad you're still with us.

Peter said...

I guess you just gave it a ringing endorsement . . .

;-)

Home on the Range said...

Peter wins the interwebs!

ASM826 said...

I would suggest that the bell angered the pavement god and you just experienced his fury. Perhaps the spirits escaped from the bell when it was smashed.

Maybe a different good luck charm next time, not that I believe in that sort of thing, of course.

Goober said...

My suggestion is to not place too much stock in simple talismans, and just endeavor to not crash your bike anymore.

*ducks and runs away cackling evilly....

Seriously, though, I'm glad you're okay.