I completely agree that currency is a personal thing and that the rules, such as they are, are very much only guidelines. I also agree that it is up to the pilot concerned to be sensible. But I still wonder how we can know if we are current. Is it just a feeling? I am very aware that I don't know what I don't know and I worry that ignorance is bliss.
windy1, when I first started IMC training I would agreed with you. But the plane doesn't stop flying in those seconds that you take to settle on to the instruments. In the kind of planes I fly (140knt SEP) not a whole lot happens if you just let go of everything for 10 seconds. On the other hand, I was amazed at the difference between an instructor saying "look up" at the MAP on a non-precision approach and seeing the runway right in front of me on a nice sunny day and what actually happens when you break out of the cloud into low visibility on an offset approach to a runway with crappy lights that perhaps I hadn't flown that accurately in the first place. Those seconds spent trying to find the runway are very important. And does currency really help here? Maybe it helps in flying the approach more accurately in the first place, but my eyes are pretty 'current' in 'looking around' skills.
People seem to a make bigger deal of currency with respect to instrument flying than they do with visual flying. Is that reasonable? Instrument flying is much more procedural, more scientific in a way, less 'instinct and seat-of-the-pants', so wouldn't this imply that currency is more of a big deal for visual flying?
Oh dear, more questions. Maybe I'll not fly on instruments for 3 months then pick a 'minimums' day and get an examiner brave enough not to take over until the moment just before I really screw it all up and I'll have my answer.