jury service

Lawyer Mouse, originally uploaded by The House of Mouse. A mouse seemed only fitting given my current housemates (which a trap revealed are in fact rambunctious mice, and not rats as previously suspected)...

Greetings from the morass of civic duty that is jury service. Week one is almost over, and what an experience this has been!

Day One was thoroughly dull. I'd brought The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with me, and managed to finish all but the last two chapters during the course of the day as I sat and waited in the jury assembly room.

Day Two - I'd read the rest of yesterday's book, and moved on to the first few chapters of A Suitable Boy, when lo and behold I was summoned to court, and sworn in with eleven other trembling jurors. Obviously, I'll be jailed for life (or face similarly dire consequences) if I disclose details of the case, so I'll proceed with vagueness.

We heard from both prosecution and defence (in their charming little wigs), and in the afternoon of Day Three, we were locked into an airless room to deliberate. We were at a stalemate (stale being the operative word!), as the judge had demanded a unanimous verdict, and both sides had vocal, if not strong, arguments. So much so that our deliberations stretched over to today. Miraculously, a unanimous verdict was reached, a sentence was passed, and we were sent home, to return again on Monday.

I'm sure that you, like me, cannot wait for the next installment in this thrilling saga. In the meantime, I'm off to the supermarket and library to restock my depleted food and reading supplies...