"Morning Paul"

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This morning metal detectorist trouble maker, stalker and spammer Steve Taylor wishes me to believe he is now waiting for me outside my house:

Lovely house you've got, must be wanting to pick up a morning paper soon!

Well, there are certainly less binbags and skips and white vans on the driveway here than outside the houses on the back-to-back council estate with the pokey overgrown back gardens that the above email was actually sent from. There are no hoodies walking past my front door.

Treasure Hunter Turns "Detective"

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For the past couple of days another metal detectorist has been spamming my email inbox to join the other utter jerks who've been doing the same. It seems some people do not want anyone discussing artefact hunting. Steven Taylor a metal detectorist well-known in the Gloucestershire region first decided he was going to set Polish metal detectorists on me, not really recognising the somewhat different (not to say precarious) position of artefact hunting in Poland from that in England. Now he has been sending posts indicating he knows my address and is coming to see me "in two weeks". After, it seems he had worked out the costs and likely consequences (oh, DO bring your metal detector Mr Taylor), he has decided on another form of harassment:

The Poulton Hoard has left a new comment on your post "Collector Buys Exported Hoard but Gives it Back": You seem to have just 2 friends Paul one lives in Canada and another in Germany, I have all there (sic) details as they linked to my site and left a lovely trail, which a blind man could follow. I will post up my new anti barford blog shortly identifying where you and your friends live. With X marks the spot See you soon.

So, if Mr Taylor is not "all mouth and no trousers" as somebody said of him to me three days ago, the blogosphere is reportedly about to be blessed with another anti-Barford blog - this one apparently intends to attack people who even read my texts. That's the third blog opposed to my writing what I write (not counting the libellous Wikipedia article).

Read Steve Taylor's Website at your own Peril

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From the not-so-urbane Steve Taylor, metal detectorist, an off-blog email just received:

Hi Arsehole I see you like my Roman coin and press cuttings, maybe you could give me a little boost on my website. By the way got a little surprise for you in your home country. In comunication with a couple of polish people, got a little job for them. Play with fire and you get burnt, little boy. See you soon or not

I'm in communication with quite a few Poles about metal detecting too, what a coincidence. Let us see with whom Mr Taylor is networking.

Let it be noted, this was precipitated by me looking at the public sections of Steve Taylor's Portable Antiquities Society website. So I guess Mr Taylor does not really want people looking at the finds depicted on his website. Why do you think he's so touchy about them that he is so concerned to induce others to give past viewers a "little surprise"?

Facebook: Norm said he/she knows you. Confirm.

Norm Kennedy chce dołączyć do grona Twoich znajomych na Facebooku.

Norm Kennedy: Liczba znajomych: 99 · 5 zdjęć · 54 postów na tablicy · Grupy: 35

No, "Norm" does not know me at all. Interestingly, he seems not to have many UK metal detectorists or archaeologists in his list of "friends" either.