Got to the field that is free at the moment and he asked if he could come around the field with me detecting.
I thought that he would get fed up after a couple of hours and go home to his mum.
Well he followed me around asking questions , wanted a go on the detector but that didn't work out , he had steel toe capped boots on.
Every time I got a signal and dug out a clod his head was down by mine looking for the object, when it was out he would ask lots of questions.
I promised to find a coin for him and it's never taken so long to find a georgian copper, it was an irish halfpenny.
Then he wanted me to go over the other side of the field, he wanted me to find a silver one for him , so I agreed to give it a go.
Got over the other side had a decent signal and couldn't find the object, turned the clod over, nothing.
There was a bit of soil by his boots and he was saying "you can't leave it, you gotta find it" kids eh?
Anyway tried over by him and could see what it was so handed the clod of soil to him he opened it up and picked the object out and said "what's that then" (it was a short cross cut half of Richard/John/Henry) so I told him what it was, what it probably would have purchased and why it had been cut, kept my side of the bargain, told him that short cross coins don't come up very often but he could have it if he promised to look after it.
Got worse after that didn't it! I wasn't allowed to open the clod , had to pass them to him so that he could do it (thought he might cry if I didn't). Two hours later I told him I had had enough and was going home.
Well he had an assortment of finds in his pocket and had learned quite a bit about the odds and sods and I was impressed by his total concentration, excitement and willingness to learn, he asked me where the nearest detector shop was (I told him about a local C- scope stockist and said that they would have some very good starter machines.
He told me that he was having fish, mashed potato and baked beans for tea , I said that he could keep the finds and off he went happy as a sandboy!
Who was he?
One of the local Hard men (48yrs) with a voice like Billy goat gruff.
It was a surprisingly enjoyable afternoon and I think he is hooked!
