Detectorist detectoristing

With the schools remaining closed following the derecho, it became apparent that Ottawacker Jr. wasn't going to go to class anytime soon and so, with Mrs. Ottawacker working all hours of the day and my work having completely dried up, it was up to me to get him out of the house. Wearing my responsibility as lightly as possible, I took him to the Arboretum for a walk in the park.

To the uninformed, taking a walk in the middle of a big treed area in the aftermath of a major storm that had damaged many of the city's trees might seem a rather brave - not to mention foolish - thing to do. But the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and off we went. I faced Mrs. Ottawacker's wrath on my return.

While we were out dodging falling branches and climbing over fallen trunks, we came across a rare sight in Ottawa: a detectorist. I don't think I have ever seen one over here before. I am quite the sucker for a 'get rich quick' scheme (and I absolutely loved Mackenzie Crook's Detectorists series) so we found a bench (away from falling branches) and sat and watched as he discovered two nails and a coke can.

I wasn't going to be the one to ask, so I wondered aloud whether Ottawacker Jr. might ask if he'd ever found anything valuable. (Usually the "whatever you do, don't ask him if he has found anything valuable" ploy works best.) It worked a charm.

However, unlike most European detectorists, this one wouldn't shut up. We were treated to a 20-minute exposition on how he'd once been commissioned to find a wedding ring (he had), how his cousin had also been commissioned to find a different wedding ring (he hadn't), and how some guy in the US had found a gold coin (one of only three made) worth around $15 million.

I looked around to tell Ottawacker Jr. that we had better go, but he had already found a boulder to climb and had left me to my well-deserved fate. 

Evening: a deserved 2-1 win for OISC U10s against Ottawa South.