Well, I feel all civic and stuff.

[kiya]

teinedreugan dropped me off at the court in Newburyport before he went to work today.


I went in and asked, "Is this where I report for jury duty" in the room labelled "Jury Room", got asked if I had my little piece of paper, said yes, showed the fellow the piece of paper, and got told, "Nope. Wrong court." The one I needed to be at was, he said, about a mile, mile and a half away. I said it'd be a nice little walk; he gave me directions. (Basically, go down to the lights and turn right; it's number 188. When I turned right, I checked for a house number. The first I saw was 106, the next 110; they continued upwards in twos and fours at relative random with the notable exception of the cute little walkup labelled, I believe, 118 1/2.)

It was a lovely day, and a lovely little walk; the walk would ahve been sufficiently more pleasant had I not felt like my kneecap was coming off. (I'm not mobility-impaired, exactly, but I'm frequently mobility-annoyed. There are two sorts of pain, the one I start out with which I walk out, and the one which I don't start out with which I walk in. By the time the knee stopped, the hip had started, but I was also essentially to the courthouse by then.)

Walked in, sat down (judge came in with a seein'-eye dawg. Erm. Ahem). Pulled out my breakfast and Jhereg, read. Got called up to turn in my little "I'm here" form. They showed us a nice little twenty-minute video about Our Jury System. Then they told us there was a case finishing up and they wouldn't know if they needed us for a while, so we had recess until 10:30. (Calling it "recess", while I know it's appropriate court terminology, meshes really oddly with the tone of the Our Jury System video, by the way; they did not, however, have swingsets.)

Everyone went out but me; I finished my milk and went out and gave teinedreugan a call, and noticed the commuter rail was just across the way (how convenient). Wandered about for a bit, went back in, finished Jhereg, started Phoenix (I read Taltos, Dragon, and Issola yesterday; it's a phase).

Judge comes in at about eleven, gives a little speech, says he's sorry he didn't get down to give the speech right after Our Jury System, told us that the fearsome presence of the twenty-odd strangers down in the jury room had intimidated 2/3 of the remaining cases into settling, and the last one needed a competency hearing scheduled now, so we could go home.

I asked the security guard how to walk to the rail station; she could only confirm where it was. Called teinedreugan. Wandered up to the lights, crossed, and saw a ramp up onto the platform down the way, which was very tidy and a good guess. Checked the schedule and saw that there had been a train departing at 11:06, and the next one was at 1:06.

Muttered. Wandered to a nearby shoppie, bought a Coke, kibbitzed with the clerk for a bit (I wonder when I learned how to do small talk? I never used to know), read Phoenix at the table. Bought train ticket there too. Took train home; finished Phoenix on the way, dozed and watched trees and ponds for the rest of the trip.

Had a lovely case of heatstroke as I got home, fled for air conditioning. Feeling less broiled now, and much much much less queasy though still iffy in the stomach regions. It is good to be in a place where I do not need to wear my shoes or my trousers.

Comments

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

judge came in with a seein'-eye dawg. Erm. Ahem

Heh. I was listening to that (30th anniversary edition) on our boat trip.

Translation request for non-US person: what's a swingset?

[kiya]

Bit of children's playground equipment. Superstructure is generally a horizontal bar, about . . . call it eight feet off the ground (two and a half meters, ish), supporting one or more swings -- a seat, generally either a plank or a rubber or canvas U-shape, hanging from a chain attached to either end.

One sits on the seat and, er, swings. Becomes a self-propelled pendulum.

Variants include more enclosed seats with a crossbar that rides up and down on the chains, for toddlers, and tire swings, which are either hung up vertically or horizontally (in which case, generally with three or four chains to bolts put through the side of the tyre).

I think I'd only use 'swingset' for one of the free-standing jobbies, which tend to be constructed of metal pipes about the diameter of a fist and set up sort of like a sawhorse, with the swings suspended from the top of the horse.



(When I was a kid, we had a porch on the back of the house, and a pair of swings from its forward edge. Depending on which way one faced while utilising the swings, there was either the risk of banging one's head on the underside of the deck, or the fun of getting up high enough to kick it. :} )

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Ah! We tend to just call them swings, and they're usually in parks rather than school playgrounds (unless it's a nursery school).

[sstaten.livejournal.com]

You do see them at Parks also, and at the elimentary (up to age 12) schools. I've never seen them at the schools for older kids.