April 9 2016		INDEX
Jury service
So I've been summoned to Maidstone Crown Court. The last time I did jury service I'd just got my first job as an editor. I'd been a deputy editor before but for a much larger magazine with more resources. I was genuinely worried about whether I could do the job, and it turned out the management shared my fears. They said I couldn't do jury service, they needed me too much, so I wrote to ask if I could be let off. They said OK, but you could see the letter was written through gritted teeth. Six months later they came for me again and this time there was no getting off. Instead of getting the usual few days of disjointed court activity I was put onto a fraud case which lasted about two months... This was clearly my punishment for appealing against the earlier summons. But jury service turned out to be a breeze. The day only lasted from about 10 a.m. till three or at the latest four, leaving me plenty of time to do my real job. In those pre-email days editors used to be on the phone all day and had to wait until 6pm before they could get anything done. It was easy for me to get into the office long before the phones stopped ringing. And the judge turned out to be an old dear, very worldly wise and anti banker. Not at all the type who asked who are the Beatles (a fairly famous pop group of the 1960s)! Part of the case was the behaviour of the bank which had protected its own interests but hung everyone else in the case out to dry. The judge gave the bank manager quite a roasting. A good experience.
INDEX Jonathan Brind	April 9 2016