Question-Mark-?

I just had a playtime meeting, with a man called Mark, who asked me a Question…

Why do i dig holes for a hobby-? To answer that i said, that i would have to give the listener a bit of background history, to which he smiled, so if the rest of you could  please sit down & keep up, i will begin…

Here is my “cynical” take, on my hobby…

I feel that i live in a strange world, I dig holes for a living, I dig holes for myself by opening my mouth [- I never seem to stop doing that -] I dig holes for anything and everything then I go and dig holes for a hobby… I never complain when I’m at work about the weather, come the sun, rain, wind, hail, sleet or snow nothing leaves my lips, I soldier on like a “right little trooper” but when its playtime… still does not matter… I have been doing this since i was twelve, got given a BFO, that was it, that was a long time ago, i was bored with fishing as i caught nothing, the fish got fat and i got bored, this OMG, as they say, as a child & i was finding free coins, and other bits, this fired my imagination beyond belief, i was soon known around the village, with my flower pot on a stick, the good thing is it was not long before i discovered that the old paraffin road lamps were being replaced with battery powered lamps, & oh look the same battery’s as my new best friend… and the rest is history

I suppose even when it’s playtime I never really complain, no matter what the vagaries of the English weather throws at you, especially when you get a run of scorching hot weather its nice to be out in the sunshine, doing something that is enjoyable, but & this is the “but” when the blessed ground is “so” rock hard & trying to dig a tiny bit at a time only succeeds in jarring your bones, and testing the limits of your patience, then and only then do I question my sanity….

For example, over the last few years the ground has been baked hard, & trying to get into this solid ground using the fork or heavens for-bid you’re trying to use a spade, then sometimes its a case off  – “mind the speed the digging tool your using comes back towards your head”  – as the spade & very often the fork, comes back at you, after bouncing off the rock hard and unforgiving ground, but even then with a solid top of the ground the fork sometimes commits suicide, as you try to get past the top three or four inches of rock solid ground, as Dave found out as he tried to get to the signal his fork broke…

It is because of this solid ground, that sometimes that good signal turns to deep dread, as you can not walk away from such a good signal, but then, as you start to peck away at this devils crust, the dread disappears & without a thought, your brain has switched into find mode, and all your focus is on that signal, which then disappears, agh… not again, then you find it, and you begin that slow painful recovery, so as to not lose it again, ” got it” just as your glad you have found it, then joy turn to a frustrated agggghhh, as it turns out to be a small part of a broken gun-cap… oh well the joys of metal detecting…

so why do i like so many others suffer the joys and pains of our wonderful hobby, i don’t know, i work outside in all weathers, so its not that i’m happy to be outside and getting exercise as my work is also very physical, but i suppose like everyone, i enjoy finding the curious things people have discarded, lost or left behind for others to find… whether you class yourselves as a Metal Detectorist  or a Treasure Hunter [- i personally see no difference -] you still have to be curious… Talking of being curious, look at the picture of the bridge over the canal, what do you see ? – me, i see a potential site for metal detecting, magnet fishing and a small dabble into how they built up the bank either side, was it refuse from the local town or gravel, we never know unless we went and had a look, curiosity my man curiosity…