Being a juror

It's been a funny old fortnight - extremely structured in one sense, yet all up in the air at the same time. This is probably a good way to sum up jury service, for which I've just completed a two week stint.

I got the summons in the post the best part of a year ago now, but managed to defer it twice due to bad timings and unavoidable circumstances. Obviously a blog isn't the place to go spouting off about all the specifics of the trials I was sworn in on, but I thought it might be useful or interesting to share my general jury service experiences here for reference.


If I'm honest, jury service is always something that I've been intrigued by in terms of the legal processes and the psychology of it all (I'm a huge fan of the film '12 Angry Men', pictured above), so I was pretty chuffed to have been randomly selected from the electoral register. Strangely the initial summons was actually addressed to 'Hilary Dunlop' as opposed to 'Hayley', but when I called to acknowledge the summons they insisted that it was definitely me who had been chosen. So I rocked up at the court on my designated day and got ushered into a big waiting room with around 75 or so others, where we watched a video and got given a talk about the general procedures we could expect over the coming days. In a separate room there was the same number of jurors again, who had started their stints the previous week. So at any given time there are around 150 jurors there, which I found quite surprising. The difference with a big Crown Court in London is that there are loads of courtrooms and lots of cases starting throughout the day. I don't know if these factors meant that me being selected as a juror for three trials across the two weeks was the norm or whether I was just lucky.

Well, I say lucky, but of course sitting on a jury isn't easy. Especially if, like me, you have the tendency to nod off at inappropriate moments. But the thing about listening to evidence in a trial is that you HAVE to listen, as ultimately the defendant's immediate future depends on you having paid attention in order to reach a fair verdict. So no napping for me. Although I found the procedures of each of the three trials extremely interesting, I did find the pressure on me, as well as the sheer level of concentration required to listen to hours and hours of evidence, extremely draining. I naively thought that the fortnight would possibly allow me to have a bit more free time than normal, but even though a typical day at the court would start at 10.15am and finish at around 4.30pm, at the end of most days I just wanted to go home straight away and sleep because my mind was full to the brim.

Each of the three trials I was sworn in on were relatively short ones, and for two of them we were deliberating the verdicts for a good few hours. For me, this was the worst part of the experience, as although I'm quite a headstrong person with often unmovable opinions, I also detest conflict and will instinctively do everything possible to keep the peace. In everyday life I tend to agree to disagree with someone if their opinion on something is in contrast to my own. However, when deliberating a verdict, agreeing to disagree simply isn't an option. It was certainly extremely revealing to see how a bunch of people who barely knew each other interacted in this kind of situation, especially in the presence of some very strong characters. I'd like to think that I remained calm and logical according to the legal guidance we had received, but on the other hand I also found it really difficult to detach myself emotionally.

Overall I wouldn't necessarily say that I 'enjoyed' the experience, although I certainly valued it. I discovered that I am able to stand my ground and argue a point rationally if I believe strongly enough in it, and I also met some lovely fellow jurors who truly did represent a huge cross-section of London. In fact, I was shocked at how many jurors were in their teens / early 20s; perhaps something to do with the fact that it's the summer holidays.

Some general tips and information if you get summoned:

• Speak to your employer / HR department about it as soon as possible, as different employers handle jury service differently. All employers are legally obliged to let you have the time off, but they don't have to continue paying you (although most do I think). But if you do lose earnings as a result of having the time off work, the court will compensate for your financial losses up to a certain amount each day.
• At my court we got given smart cards loaded with about £5.50 of credit each day which we could spend in the jurors restaurant. But if you choose to go out for lunch you'll get the money back instead (but no more than the daily limit on the card). Bear in mind that you can't go out for lunch if you're deliberating a verdict and I'd highly recommend that you bring in your own food if you think there's a chance you might be holed up in the room for a lengthy period.
• There's aways the chance that you might get selected for a longer trial. When your name is called initially, you'll be told straight away how long the trial is expected to last (although you don't discover what crime the trial relates to until you are sworn in as a juror). If it's beyond what you can commit to then you can request to be excused from that particular trial. But this request has to be made to the judge and ultimately it's his / her decision about whether your reason is legitimate enough.
  
• Take lots of books / magazines to read. Or ask about taking your laptop (they might have a wi-fi account you can use). I was fortunate in the sense that, because I did three trials, I didn't have to do that much sitting around. But I know of people who have literally had to sit in a jury waiting area, day in day out, for two weeks without getting chosen, so be prepared for a long, dull wait. Plus, even if you are selected for a jury, you're likely to get sent away a few times if the judge or barristers want to discuss a legal issue. From experience this could take an hour or so to resolve before you're ushered back into the courtroom.
• Have an open mind. Listen to the evidence. Follow the judge's legal advice. Don't be bullied into changing your mind about something just because it's easier or more convenient for everyone else.
• Get to know your fellow jurors as you'll be seeing a lot of them.
• Oh, and tempting as it may be, don't Google anything or do your own independent research about anything to do with the trial whilst it's still going on as it's kind of against the law...

Unleashing the Beard

I'm not usually the type of person who makes New Year's resolutions, but at the start of 2009 I had the urge to tick off one of my life's ambitions at some point over the next 12 months. I can now happily declare that I have achieved that aim - to play a live gig.

I've been drumming for a couple of years, just as a random hobby really. I've written before about how this may seem an odd choice of instrument for someone who is usually pretty clumsy and uncoordinated, but it somehow seems to work! My band - Witness To The Beard* - has been together for just under a year, and although we try and get together to practice once a week, work commitments have meant that our gatherings are more infrequent than we would prefer. So the prospect of actually getting up on stage and playing our songs (well, to be fair, their songs, as I just drum along) was pretty terrifying. But I reckon sometimes you have to challenge yourself and put yourself in unfamiliar situations simply for the experience.

I'm thrilled to report that our first gig was an amazing experience. Yeah, our performance was by no means perfect, but we got up there, played a set of mostly our own material, and even got paid for the privilege! We hadn't realised when we signed up to play a 30-minute slot at the Comedy Pub near Leicester Square that we'd get a quid for everyone who turned up to see us, so we were thrilled to get over a tenner each.

The 30+ people who were there to specifically watch up absolutely blew me away with their support and enthusiasm on the night. The chants of "Witness!Witness!Witness!Witness!" were inspired, and exactly the type of light-hearted vibe that we all thrive under. On this occasion I personally decided not to tell too many people about our debut performance, just in case it all went horribly wrong. But since it went pretty well, expect to see much more shameless self-promotion from now on! It would be great to see lots of familiar faces at one of our future performances, and I'd be really interested to get your feedback on our beardy antics!

*My dad grew a beard. Someone didn't believe me. Someone else said: "It's true. I was witness to the beard." Simple as. The beard is still in existence today, and we proudly represent those facial follicles through the medium of rock.

Cavorting in Cornwall

I know, I know, it's been too long since I last blogged again. No excuses this time, I'm just completely out of the habit. I've just come to the end of a week off work, and what a lovely week off it was. I spend a few days of it down in Cornwall, chilling out with my mum and dad and breathing in some much-needed country air. We stayed in this gorgeous B&B near Liskeard, called Trussel Barn, which I would highly recommend to anyone considering heading south-west for a break. The rooms were stunning, with views of seemingly-endless countryside and luxurious bathrooms complete with fluffy towels and bathrobes. The breakfasts were to die for, with freshly-squeezed apple juice from the orchard down the road, locally-sourced sausages and bacon and a delicious fresh fruit salad each morning which I covered in yoghurt and drizzled loads of runny honey over the top. YUM!


The story behind why we ended up in Liskeard is pretty amusing. Some of my relatives from Norway were in Cornwall for a holiday, so we thought it'd be nice if we were staying nearby so we could meet up with them. So my mum found Trussel Barn, as she was under the impression they were staying in Liskeard. Turns out they weren't staying in Liskeard after all, but in The Lizard (starts with an 'L' and ends in a 'D' I guess...), which is the best part of a two-hour drive away! Oh well, it was a nice drive!

If you're in that neck of the woods (Liskeard, not The Lizard), I'd also recommend a restaurant in the nearby seaside village of Looe. The Old Sail Loft is tucked away and not immediately visible, but definitely worth seeking out for their tasty seafood dishes (although my dad opted for a juicy steak) and friendly service. Note the name of the restaurant. The first question my mum asked our waiter was "what was this building used for originally?"...The menu's quite pricey, but if you get there before 7.30pm you can choose from their reasonably-priced brasserie menu.

Before I left for Cornwall, I asked for tourist tips on my Twitter feed. I was consequently informed about Adrenalin Quarry near Liskeard. Although the thought of digging adrenalin out of the ground does sound rather appealing, instead this relatively new tourist attraction boasts 'the longest zip wire in the UK'. The zip wire did indeed look long and good fun, but I chose to get a 10-minute adrenalin buzz from the nearby Go Karting. My arms were killing me afterwards but it was definitely worth it.

The Knock On Effect

One of the reasons why I love my job is because I get to work on such a variety of projects and meet such a diverse range of people. Yesterday was once such example, when I had the privilege to meet 17-year-old Rosie Kilburn, who is from my neck of the woods in the good old Westcountry.

Rosie has a rare form of liver cancer, but instead of letting it get her down it has spurred her on to launch a sustainable fundraising project called 'The Knock On Effect'. Initially, Rosie aims to run an art auction, and she's already received loads of donated pieces to sell at the auction in July. She then intends to design a range of funky T-shirts, with cool yet inspiring messages on them to raise awareness of various issues. I saw one of her designs yesterday and it was very impressive. All of the money she will make from these ventures will be donated to various cancer charities.

To help get the project off the ground - and also to share her everyday experiences - Rosie's launched a blog, and she was invited to the Guardian to get some ideas for how to spread the word about her project and get more people to visit her site. This is where I came in, and I shared as much of my knowledge as I could in 30minutes, but above anything else it was such a pleasure to meet someone so genuine, focused and enthusiastic, yet so incredibly modest at the same time.

Please do take a look at Rosie's blog and find out more about The Knock On Effect. If you know of any budding artists who'd like to donate a piece or two for her forthcoming auction then you can also get in touch with her via the site.

Tunnel 228 = blimin great

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing my ever-informative Twitter feed when the Londonist mentioned something called 'Tunnel 228'. Intrigued, I clicked on the link to discover a rather garish website that seemingly belonged to a train tunnel cleaning company. At first I thought that the url was wrong, but upon further investigation I discovered that most of the links on the website were inactive, apart from one rather inconspicuous link at the foot of the page, which opened up a whole new window, urging me to 'book tickets'. But 'book tickets for what?', I wondered. A quick Google search informed me that Tunnel 228 was an experimental theatre / art project, produced jointly by the Old Vic (Kevin Spacey being the man at the creative helm) and one of the UK's most innovative performance companies, Punchdrunk, along with the input of loads of urban artists.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the urban art Cans Festival last year, which took place just round the corner (in the tunnels beneath Waterloo station), Tunnel 228 looked just up my street, so I booked a couple of tickets on the spot. Lucky I did, because once word spread about the project - which was only going to be open to the public for 15 days - the (free) tickets were all gone by the end of that day.

My slot to step through the door into the maze of underground tunnels was yesterday afternoon, and I wasn't disappointed. The space was vast, the atmosphere spooky and surreal, and there was so much to take in. After wandering around for a few minutes, I began to notice that there was some kind of almost ritualistic performance taking place, with the Punchdrunk performers working meticulously on various mechanisms and machines to ensure the safe voyage of a silver ball around the tunnels.

The show is loosely based on Fritz Lang's classic film Metropolis, but having never seen the film I chose to draw my own conclusions about what it all meant. So my interpretation was that the ball represented money, and the performers repeating the same monotonous tasks over and over reflected the thankless routines of the working classes. This was reinforced by the fact that we were all 'ordered' to wear surgical face masks at all times (removing our sense of individuality) and we were only allowed to speak in whispers. In fact, at one point one of the performers reprimanded me for speaking too loudly, and although I wasn't intimidated by the in-my-face 'sssshhhh' that I received, it really added to the idea that we had entered a dark and oppressive underground world, despite the fact that the sun was shining brightly just a few feet away outside. I was also a bit miffed as I was told to shut up just as I was making an amusing joke about having to always queue for the ladies loos as we waited in line to peak through the door to witness one of the other mini-performances.

One of my favourite moments was when I spotted a piece by the artist Slinkachu, who has gained notoriety for placing amusing miniature scenes around the streets of London. I was chuffed to bits to spot four of his tiny installations in Tunnel 228, but I'm intrigued to know whether I missed any.

By the time I'd taken everything in I was rather surprised to discover that I'd been wandering around the performance space for well over an hour. If you're lucky enough to have tickets for this then you're in for a treat, but if not, there are rumours that the show could re-surface later this year, so keep your ear to the ground. And you get a free surgical mask to boot (no swine flu for me!).

My quest to discover the fate of Sniper the dog

About ten years ago I was watching BBC Points West, the local BBC news programme for Bristol and the surrounding areas. One of the top stories was a frantic hunt for a dog called Sniper, who had gone missing in a forest whilst out on a walk. His distraught owners believed that their beloved Sniper - always the adventurer - had unwittingly wandered in to one of the hundreds of badger sets in the forest, and had gotten lost in the labyrinth of underground tunnels.

There was a live link at the search scene, where it appeared there were dozens of policemen, RSPCA people and members of the public trying to locate the canine explorer, with an emotional plea from the reporter for people in the local area to keep their eyes peeled for a dog matching Sniper's description. The story had me gripped, and at the end of the show they re-visited the scene to inform us that Sniper still hadn't been found, but that the search was still in full swing.

Now, these were the days before online news hit the big-time, and the thought of instant access to information was a distant dream. So the next day I dutifully tuned in to the news programme for a Sniper update. Nothing. After a few days, I was so disturbed by the lack of closure on the story that I even sent them an e-mail, requesting information about the outcome of the Sniper-search. Nothing.

A decade later, I have decided to make it my mission to find out once and for all - WHAT HAPPENED TO SNIPER THE DOG?

Granted, the details I have are rather thin on the ground; my estimation of when this story hit the headlines could be wrong, and it may not have even been a story on the BBC local news programme after all, but instead on its ITV equivalent. But I'm hoping that I will finally be able to discover the fate of dear old Sniper through the wonder of social media and modern-day technology.

Please help and spread the word!

Parmageddon

Much has already been said about the media coverage of swine flu, panic mongering and the notion of 'the boy who cried wolf', so I'm sure there's nothing I can really add to the debate. However, what I have contributed is the marvellous pun above, relating to ham and the end of the world. Bad Science legend Ben Goldacre is certainly a fan, so I must thank him for circulating my pun-ditry to a wider audience.

In truth, I am a tad worried about a potential pandemic, but at the end of the day there's not really much I can do about it except wait and see how it plays out.

It's been a busy old week. The 'battle of the media' pub quiz at the Groucho Club (in aid of International Alert) was good fun on Monday. Other than getting confused between Rebecca Romero and Victoria Pendleton, I think I justified my place on the Guardian team...although mainly as a result of my extensive knowledge of Take That.

Tuesday I went along to the April edition of the London Bloggers Meetup. It was a good'un, sponsored by Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, who told us all about their latest interactive campaign and treated us to canapes, a couple of free drinks and a pretty target pin badge which is now adorning my (ridiculously massive) handbag. Loads of new people were there too, and I had the pleasure of meeting Laura from BitchBuzz, Meaghan from Spoonfed, Steve from LearnAsOne (very interesting social media / charity expedition project), Rachel Clarke, Tom from Tired of London, Tired of Life and Alex Lefley, as well as the usual suspects.

Just noticed that I've got a sore throat. Hmmmmm....