Day in court

I was sitting in court all day today. I took Simon, one of the kids who is a neighbor, with me as he's interested in studying law at uni when he gets there. Anyway the morning wasn't too interesting with lots of fairly mundane stuff to deal with until our chairman had to leave urgently. We were then without a chairman so it was left to one of the remaining two of us to take over the role. While I would have been prepared to do it myself the other guy had far more experience than me so we agreed that he would fill the gap. We then had the prospect of doing some warrants which is actually quite a rare thing and luckily we could do a couple each.

In the afternoon we had mostly motoring offences to deal with and it never ceases to amaze me that when people choose to defend themselves that they often throw away their opportunity because of bad preparation or simply missing the point altogether. I'm sure it's a very difficult and daunting thing to do but simply having a rant against the system isn't going to gain you any sympathy and probably won't make you feel better at the end of the day either.

The weekend

Fantastic weather so did some jobs outside like grass cutting etc. Helped Andrew clean out the soakaways in the road which turned into a long job. Went over Pete Seddons place in the evening, Jo his sister was there, and as it was such a nice evening we all went for walk along the river and then went to the Jolly Roger. Went back to Pete's for dinner and I think I had too much to drink! I suddenly got very tired which is usually a sure-fire sign.

Consequently I woke up feeling pretty crappy on Sunday morning, so we sat around reading the papers until about 1:00. Did lots of odds and ends all day as the weather was very unpredictable. Still, the good thing was that I caught up on a few things that have been hanging out for quite a while.

Decisions decisions

Time to start thinking where we're going to go for our October vacation. I'd be quite happy to go back to Maldives for the third time, but Sheila is thinking it's time for something different - even if only slightly. She's thinking of Mauritius or Seychelles which are both different but not by a huge margin.

The thing I love about Maldives is that there is nothing going on there that makes you feel under any pressure whatsoever. No cars, no bikes, nowhere you need to be, and no when you need to be there by. You can eat and sleep when you want and don't need to see anyone else for days on end if you don't want to, so it's easy to feel like you've got the whole island all to yourself. As far as I'm concerned these are the things that make Maldives unique.

Looking at photos

How long is long enough when you're looking at other people's wedding photos? Just lately we have been presented with a few to look through and this question has become quite a topic. Sheila was looking through some a couple of weeks ago and, as is usually the case, the happy couple were present, but I didn't really know them so I had little real interest. Sheila seemed to spend an age looking intentley and closely at each picture and making lots of comments etc, whereas I just wanted to skim through them all in as little time as possible.

When I asked her about this afterwards she said that you have to take your time, look at the details, and ask questions to show that your interested. But two or three minutes a picture?

I reckon 5 seconds tops is more than enough for any picture in most cases.

Skiing and sleeping

I'm in the process of arranging a ski trip with a few good friends who are all Americans and live in the US - two in New York and two in Denver. We're planning to go to Steamboat and rent a house for a few days and have found one that looks pretty good and seems to fit the bill. However there is one slight problem. The house has 3 bedrooms each with a queen sized bed. There are, currently, six of us, two married couples and two male friends, and the problem is that the two guys predictably don't want to sleep in the same bed. They are both married (their wives are staying at home) and have known each other for many years, but even despite their long standing friendship they can't bring themselves to do what actually makes perfect sense.

I'm sure this is a pretty normal reaction but the thing about this that seems a bit odd when I think about it is that as kids we all love sleeping with our friends when it all seems like really good fun. Even as teenagers it's not really too much of an issue, even with the same sex. But then at some point, and this seems to be mostly in the case of men, it becomes a big problem. Sleeping in the same room doesn't seem to be an issue, it just seems to be the idea of being in the same bed. It's crazy really, but maybe it's just that as adults we worry to much about what other people think we might be doing, even though it's the last thing on our minds.

Guitar time

Had a very busy day at work and arrived home to a rainy evening so that could only mean one thing... at least an hour in my music room playing one of my guitars. I have 4 guitars at the moment comprising an old Fender Stratocaster that I bought in 1976 which is still in excellent condition, a G&L ASAT Special that I just got last year and is my current favourite, a nice Gibson 335 copy - a gift from an old friend, and and Ovation Balladeer.

I try to spend at least 30 minutes practicing each day and have been doing this, on and off, since I was nine years old, but I do it more now than ever - probably because I feel (hope) that I've made some huge leaps forward in the way I play. I've been spending most of the last 3 or 4 years learning new techniques and styles which have made a huge difference to my playing.

Working Monday...

Spent a lot of today trying to get a presentation that could easily fill and hour down to just 15 minutes. Pretty much got there in the end but not without numerous replays of the words to use - or rather, not use. Roll on 7:30 Tuesday morning when I have to present it.

Got home to find that Sheila had bought even more rock lights for the garden. Hardly a day seems to have gone by recently when some new ones haven't appeared! Got given instructions on using our new fancy coffee maker - it's makes great coffee but does seem pretty complicated. Every type of coffee seems be accompanied by a different set of instructions printed in type so small that I'm considering keeping a magnifying glass close at hand!

Watched another interesting show about India presented by Sanjev Baskar. The best bit was at the Indian/Pakistan border where they have this really wacky marching ceremony every night when the gates are closed performed by soldiers with bizzare moustaches.

By 10:0pm the new rock lights were doing a great job of lighting the waterfall.

Sunny Sunday

Another great sunny day - in fact it was very hot - the weather just seems to be going from one extreme to the other at the moment. Read the papers and a particularly interesting article about Marco Pierre White - sounds like a pretty interesting person who doesn't take any nonsense from anyone, especially idots like Gordon Ramsey.

Watched the Hungarian GP and was disappointed to see Lewis Hamilton win after causing so much disruption in his own team. He's clearly not a team player but prefers to do what he wants irrespective of the impacts that may cause. Thankfully Kimi came second which was the best he could hope for as he was never going to pass LH. Hopefully Hamilton will get a couple of DNFs before too long.

Spent the rest of the afternoon doing jobs around the place and helped Sheila cut Horst's bushes back. Finally got around to asking our neighbor to cut his silver birch tree down a bit - hopefully he will now that he knows about the problems it's causing.

At last - a sunny Saturday

I can't believe it - it's Saturday and for a long time it's also sunny and warm - this must be the first time it's been good as this since April! Took advantage of the sunshine and took some pictures of the small garden that Sheila has just redone and I've put them here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/slkmaniac/Garden

As the weather was so good we decided to go out to the New Forest this afternoon. Sheila wanted to go to a couple of plant nurseries which to me is about as much fun as having a cactus in my underpants. Anyway the mission was a success and we came away with one new plant and some pots.

Dropped by dads on the way back home and was a bit shocked to hear that Kimi Raikkonen has only qualified 4th in the Hugarian GP.

Getting ready...

Spent most of today getting ready for a presentation we need to give to a VP next week of the progress our area of the company has made over the last 5 years and where it's going over the next 5 years. Went down the pub for lunch as it was such a nice day and talked about vacations and where to go this year - Maldives, Mauritus, or Seychelles?

As it was such a nice afternoon I drove home with roof down and came back through Durley. Marianne just called a fw minutes ago (it was her birthday yesterday) and told us what she did on the day.

Time to start over

I haven't added to this blog for ages but today I went to a talk about blogs given by Cerys G and it re-ignited my enthusiasm to get back into updating this thing on a regular basis. So... I'm planning on trying to spend 5 minutes everyday adding something here no matter how important it may, or may not, seem at the time...

Goodwood 07

I went to the Goodwood Festival of Speed back in the summer with 3 guys from work. I found this site called animoto.com recently and made this short video from some of the pictures we took...

Picture in the Hallway

We finally got around to putting up all the black and white pictures of New York in our hallway today. There are 24 of them (so far) and the whole job took us almost four hours. Here are the before and after views looking up the stairs...

Planning a vacation

This weekend we're trying to plan a vacation. Because we've had a lot of stuff going on lately we're probably just going to do something really easy which means going back to the Maldives for a couple of weeks. We went there last year and had a fantastic time so hopefully it's be as good this year.

Becoming a Magistrate

I decided I wanted to become a magistrate after I did jury service for the first time back in 1992. I thought that being a juror was an amazing experience, and I quite fancied the idea of being a judge although obviously without years of education and a major career change that was never going to happen. But then, after a chat with one of the ushers at Southampton Crown Court, it was suggested I could become a magistrate which, to some extent, is a bit like being a judge and jury rolled into one. Being a magistrate does require some considerable flexibility from IBM concerning your time management as it required you to attend court for approximately 20 days each year and unfortunately my manager at the time was not at all happy or encouraging. When I had a second stint of jury service in August 2001 that was it, my enthusiasm was reignited and this time I had the full support of my manager.

To apply to become a magistrate you simply have to fill in some fairly length forms explaining why you believe you have all the necessary qualities, provide three suitable referees who must confirm that you are a fair and responsible person, and then wait. Contrary to common belief you don't need any detailed knowledge of the law, but just a sense of what is fair and right. There is much waiting involved during the application process as it's fairly lengthy involving two fairly formal interviews with a panel of three magistrates. The first interview is broadly to see what personal qualities and prejudices you posses and exhibit, and if you pass this first interview you go forward to a second interview, some months later, to probe your views to a much deeper level on matters that you would be dealing with if you actually do become a magistrate.

At my first attempt I got through to the second interview, but failed and was absolutely distraught! Luckily a friend, Colin Bird, who's also a magistrate, assured me that failing at the first attempt wasn't uncommon and that I should definitely re-apply which I did at the first opportunity, however this can't be any sooner than two tears from when you failed. So in 2004 I reapplied immediately. This time I passed both interviews but rather than getting a letter saying well done you've passed I got a rather more subdued note telling me I had simply been accepted through the interview stage and my name would go forward to see if I met the demographic requirements of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight bench. In this case being a white, middle aged, Anglo Saxon, male would not be any advantage whatsoever, in fact it could even be a disadvantage as the benches must ensure they are representative of the communities they serve and I'm probably very typical of the type of person who usually applies to be a magistrate. I did get through that stage, received another very low key letter informing me of the fact, and was asked to fill in another pile of forms enabling all kinds of background checks to be run against me that were necessary to ensure I actually was all I'd claimed to be, and didn't have a shady background I'd failed to reveal.  Yet another cautionary letter followed saying that my name would now be passed to the Lord Chancellor for his approval and confirmation that I was being recommended for appointed to be a Justice of the Peace. This confirmation finally arrived some 18 months after I'd first applied, for the second time, and I can't tell you how relieved I and my other 30 appointees were.

Now I had to begin my training which consisted of five full days in Havant Courthouse where we were taken through all the protocols, procedures, and issues we would be expected to deal with while working as magistrates. The education was some of the best I have ever experienced and was very easy to follow being presented by very experienced people in a very informal environment. One of the major focuses of the education is that all decision making should follow a very structured process so that all the salient points of a case, evidence and mitigation, can be seen to have been considered, leading ultimately to a fair and just decision. We had lots of group exercises where we could test our ability to pass fair judgments on all manner of criminal activities and we were taught to be very wary of judging people in court based upon their appearance or demeanor. One of the more light hearted parts of the learning was where were told about all the tricks and props defendants use to try and gain sympathy in court such as, sick or dying relatives, no job, new job, overly pregnant girlfriend(s) usually with complications, and children with difficult to prove medical conditions.

The final stage of my becoming a magistrate was the swearing in ceremony held in Winchester Crown Court on July12. This involved all 30 of us having to swear to the judicial oath in open court in front of a judge, many invited local dignitaries, and all our nearest and dearest. Until you have been sworn-in, although you are a JP, you can't actually sit in court as a magistrate so this really is the last step and the one where you are finally unconditionally congratulated at having achieved what you set out to do.

Training continues formally on the job for the first 18 months but in reality continues for the rest of my career as a magistrate as I gain experience with all the necessary current and new procedures and legislation, but most importantly with all the situations, people, and cases I will see and pass judgment over during the coming years.