Jury service!

I was a little nervous this morning and worried about getting to court on time so Keith dropped me off at about 8.45am. I'm glad I asked him to take me as the traffic was horrendous. I used to leave at 8am when I volunteered at the CAB and managed to get into town for about 8.35am so this morning was a particularly bad one!

I had to show my summons letter and we had our bags checked. I, of course, was frisked, as I always am, just like at the airport! Once inside the jurors' waiting room (think small airport departure lounge) we had to show ID and we were given expenses forms and a guide to what to expect.

I sat next to a very nervous lady but I realised most of us newbies were in the same boat and all a bit unsure of what to expect. We went to see a courtroom and then a lady from the catering team explained what happened about lunch and gave us meal vouchers for the ten days. We were also shown a video and then we had to wait. We had a television near us and were told we could change the channel if we wanted. One of the men sitting near us ran through the channels and found the Adult stations! That raised quite a titter, I can tell you! Funnily enough, I was called up with several of the people sitting near me, all of whom were very friendly.

At intervals one of the court officers appeared and read out our names. I was called to a particular court and fifteen of us went to the courtroom. I was chosen and then had to swear an oath and the jurors who weren't picked went back downstairs to see if they were needed on another case.

Obviously, I cannot say what happened in my case, but it was very interesting and although I was nervous to begin with the court staff were excellent. We broke for lunch and then went back until about 4pm but our case wasn't finished so we will be back tomorrow.

I walked to my car with another female juror that I had become friendly with, and Keith met me as I walked to the car park. By now it was dark so I was doubly glad Keith had come to pick me up!

We drove home (Soph and Mike were in the car as well) through extremely heavy traffic and it was bliss to relax after my day. It wasn't tiring in that we had to do physical stuff, more hard work on the brain with the concentrating and taking notes! I found it very interesting and enjoyable, which was a bonus!