just another morning here

So … since the last blog … we had a weekend, which seemed to disappear all too quickly.

Monday was interesting. I spent the day in the court and actually got as far as being on a jury, but not much further. We’d been sworn in on the jury and heard the charge, when one of the other jurors said something to the usher. It became apparent that he knew something of the case so he was off the jury and they replaced him. All seemed fine and proceedings went on for an hour before lunch, we started hearing the case etc.

Went for lunch then there was a long wait afterwards. Eventually we were traipsed back into the courtroom to be told by the judge that we couldn’t be the jury on the case because of what the original juror had said.

Back in the jury retiring room it transpired that one person *had* heard what he’d said, which was something like ‘I know all about this case, he’s guilty’.

So they were right to throw the jury out, but I couldn’t help thinking it was a bit of a silly thing to say in a courtroom, and I was slightly disappointed that we didn’t get to see the process through until the end. I didn’t have to go in today at all but will be back in tomorrow, can’t imagine anything interesting will happen with only 3 days of my two week stint left though.

Meanwhile Steve and Josiah went to pick up our folding camper. After our last camping trip we decided to make some changes, and this is what we’ve ended up with. We can *just* get it up the drive and in the garage, and managed to put it up in the driveway (photo to follow in the morning) to sort a few things out before we take it for a trial run to MuddlePuddle Camp at the weekend. Of course we couldn’t test putting up the worst bit, the awning, which I am dreading, it really does bring back so many memories of my childhood caravan holidays with my parents where putting up the awning was always really stressful for some reason!

Today has been fairly boring, Joe and I have just caught up on jobs – weeding in the garden, shopping, washing, ironing, that sort of thing. Oh, and we went to buy a groundsheet and some towing mirrors, too. The most annoying thing about this whole camper malarkey is that I am going to have to go back to driving school – because I took my test after January 1997 I don’t have the towing class on my driving licence. So I am going to have to take extra lessons and an extra test to get whatever class it is on my licence. Probably just as well as I think I’ll be pretty rubbish at towing, but annoying that I have to pay for it!

As well as all that, we were trying to take care of Gizmo the hamster over the weekend but we failed He’d been having treatment for mites, and basically didn’t really recover since the last injection. Tried drip feeding him fluids from a pipette but it didn’t work and he ended up being put down at the vets on Monday night. Anna was quite upset, but there we go.

Other than that life goes on as usual. Glad to have Russ back at work. The ibook screen is just about working, can’t decide whether to put it in to try and be mended or just persevere with strange angles when necessary.

We have had a varied day. Josiah’s been with Becca, who looked after him so that I could be free to be a juror if necessary. In fact I didn’t have to; instead I spent my day helping out with walking Anna’s school year group to the local High School for a day of sports and science, and then at work with Steve.

Anna had a great time at St. Luke’s, but apparently it hasn’t convinced her to go. Abbie had a good day at school too, and Joe had a fab time with Becca, doing a model kit that he got for his birthday as well as a trip to the park with his scooter in tow.

We were going to go to the Exeter Festival opening night but as it was raining heavily (on and off) we shelved that idea and went to Wagamama instead – Josiah has been wanting to go for ages – well, since it opened last year. Had a fab meal there and then came home to watch Stormbreaker, Joe’s birthday dvd.

The bad news is that my ibook’s screen seems to be dying. It’s been a bit dodgy for a while (someone bashed the back of it rather hard once and it’s never been the same since) but now it’s even worse and I can only use it when it’s open at a 45 degree angle, which makes life a little difficult. Not quite sure what to do about it either