JURY DUTY

As I told you previously I've been called up to do Jury Duty.
All last week and till the end of this week I've been on call.

To tell you the truth I've been very interested in it all.

The worst part so far has been having to get back into the groove of early rising as when I am called in I have to join all the other commuters for the slow peak hour trip into the city.
I live in an outer suburb so I'm often first on the bus which means I can pick my seat for the one and a half hour trip.

I'm not very good on buses. They have slippery seats and I've got short legs and going round corners fast can be quite an adventure ( for me and the person sitting next to me !!!). 

After spending one and a half hours traveling and worrying you'll be late because of traffic, you enter the new, impressive, modern but rather stark and bare, high rise building that is the District/Supreme Court building.
Next you go through a security check then up in the lift to the jury area where you wait
  P. A. T. I. E. N. T. L. Y
for about an hour with about 100 other prospective jurors.

No-one talks much..... well not on the first day anyway, and finally a court official moves to the front of the room ( a Deputy Sheriff or some other title ) and tells you what to expect during the jury selection process.
where to walk,
all about the oath and the choices you have to cater for religious beliefs ..... or not,
and  how you mustn't be offended if you are challenged and discarded.

All this takes another half an hour !

By now the morning's almost gone and you still haven't set foot in a court room !

Finally 28 names are called and you file into a court room with the accused and barristers and the Judge where the jury selection begins.

Each side has the opportunity to challenge ( and therefore remove potential jurors) eight times during this process until a jury of twelve is empaneled. Thus the need for at least 28 people. ( 2x8+12=28)

Ah! Finally we are ready for the case to begin...... but wait!

Before we can proceed all the witnesses must be named so that the prospective jurors can see if they have any reason to excuse themselves from the case because they know /know of any of them.

Finally, all is ready and those not selected may leave and go home.

By this time it is time for morning tea and a recess is called while everybody has a cuppa and goes to the loo before the work begins.
If you have been empaneled you go along every day till your case has concluded
but if not you are potentially on call the next day.... and the next.... and the next....
going through the same process until you are finally on a jury or the two weeks is up.

The temperature of the aircon in the whole building is quite cold and I imagine if you had to wear a robe like this

 

and one of these on your head

 

 

in Queensland heat you'd want the aircon down cold too !!

 

So there you have it.

I've done my duty without ever actually making it to a jury.

I'm a bit disappointed, I would have liked to see the whole process through to the end of a case

 

and the pay for turning up ?

 

$42.80 a day !

 

Cheers.

 

LOVE THOSE GUM TREES

 

I've mentioned in the past that  I have a particular fondness for trees.

In fact I've written posts about them here and here and here TOO.

 

 

I thought it was time  Australia's "gum" trees featured in a post of their own.

 

 

There are many different types of gum tree and I am not at all familiar with their individual names.
.

Oh, I can recognise an Iron Bark

 

 

and a Stringy Bark

 

 

and even a Squiggly Gum

 

 

by studying their bark but that's about as scientific as I get.

 

 

On the whole they are tall, spindly trees, sparsely leaved with a distinctive shape and dark, grey-green long thin leaves and they grow everywhere very abundantly.

 *

and where they grow is called "the bush".

 

Sometimes the bush is quite sparse as in the photo above

and sometimes it is thick with trees and undergrowth like this

 

 

 

 - tall, mature trees and spindly saplings crowding together.

 

 *

 

Sometimes you see trees growing all alone

*
like this HUGE one,

 left to stand when the bush was cleared for development because of its particular beauty and size,

*
or planted by home owners who enjoy their dappled shade.

*

There are a few spectacular ones in my neighbourhood like these


*
but despite their beauty they are not good trees to have in your garden.
They drop lots of leaves all over the lawn.
They shed huge quantities of bark.

Constantly!

They are not trees that are designed to stand alone without the protection of other trees

and in storms, when the wind blows strongly they drop huge branches or often the whole tree will snap and they are responsible for the huge damage bills we have after storms

 

Never-the-less we love them.

 

They smell of eucalyptus.

 

They're icons of Australia.

 

and we teach our school children to sing about them !!!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CACPeNkcFE

* These are my photos. Any others have been taken from the Internet.

** A big thank you my bloggy friends for all your kind words and wishes. What would I do without you ??

I'm linking with Shay's Favourite Things Friday as trees are one of my absolute favourite things EVER !

Cheers.



VALENTINE'S DAY

Things have been very quiet around here.
We are missing our little mate a lot.
For the last 30 years we've been welcomed home by a fathful wagging tail
( first it was Sunshine then Baker & Dash )

and were not really in the mood for Valentine's Day.....

but some lovely friends rallied around and off we went for a picnic dinner at our latest favourite spot.





We had a lovely time, even when a sudden shower of rain interrupted dessert!

 

 

 

... and my fella gave me these pretty things




Hope your Valentine's Day was spent with someone special too.

Cheers.

 

THE END OF AN ERA FOR US

Sadly today we said goodbye to our dear little mate Dash.

 

 

She was such a happy little dog and gave us so much pleasure and companionship.

 

RIP Dash.

You were a real character.

 

We'll miss you.

CATCHING UP

Oh dear, I've been absent from here for quite a while.
I think it must be something about this time of year.
It's summer and everything grinds to a halt for school holidays which means clubs and hobbies seem to shut down too while everyone tries to cope with the heat.

Here, in our humble abode we've been coping with awful heat and broken down air conditioning since before Christmas which has meant I've been heading off to shopping malls where there is aircon.
There I find a quiet spot, grab a coffee and settle down with a book for a couple of hours of respite from the heat, only returning home around 3 o'clock when the worst heat of the day has passed !!

So.... nothing very productive has been happening ( including housework !!!) chez nous.
(Practising my French for the upcoming holiday. Only 10 weeks away now !)
 

However, the terrible heat and awful rain seem to be behind us now and the days have been really pleasant - around 26 to 28 degrees....

which has prompted a little cutting back in the back garden!
 

Tony prunes with a chain saw!

 

and so we're left with this where once a thriving garden of grevilleas once grew !!



It's all looking very bare but hopefully they will soon be shooting and looking refreshed !

We seem to be having a bad trot with appliances because on Friday our 6 year old fridge turned up its toes and the diagnosis was terminal



so a new one will be delivered tomorrow and the new aircon will finally be installed on Thursday.


Then, in the mail, came this !
 

Jury Duty !!!!

I've never done Jury Duty before as I always was exempted while I was working so it will be a new experience.
I'm very interested in the whole thing and really quite looking forward to it.
 

I start on Monday.
I wonder if I will have some stories I will be able (allowed ? ) to tell you about it ?

Cheers.

THE USUAL

Well, after the awful weather of last weekend where we had 250+ mm ( yes that's 10 inches !!) of rain in 2 days we are once again feeling very battered.

The rain depression was the tail end of a cyclone and brought with it very destructive winds as well as lots of rain.



There has been heaps of damage from this wind - especially from fallen trees,

usually gum trees falling on houses.


Of course rain like that also brings floods - not too bad in Brisbane thank heavens.

Thses horses in Bundaberg are being swum to safety.

Northern Queensland has once again born the brunt of the rain and, poor things, they are having huge floods.

 

For us, it's largely inconvenience of flooded roads, some places have no electricity ( and internet !).


Tonight, a week later and life is just about back to normal then,
at 10:00pm, a storm warning just came through on my phone.

Here we go again!!!!

PS. especially For Foody

The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent (or Strine).^[1] The typical ocker is "usually found in a blue singlet and rubber thongs with a tinnie in his hand propping up a bar".^[2]