I was swinging my metal detector from side to side as I walked across the sandy beach on one of this winter's lowest tides. Last year on the same tide I had found a small Roman brooch. This year I hoped to be lucky again. So far all I had found were modern objects discarded as litter. There was a strong signal in my ears. I dropped to my knees pulling out the wooden probe. As the damp penetrated my trousers I could almost hear my ex-wife Anne's voice in my ears. "Peter! You have ruined another pair of trousers. What you see in metal detecting I'll never understand. You waste hours of time. You could be sorting out the garden, painting the house..but oh no! You have to wave yur silly wand around looking for other people's smelly rubbish.........