Doing my duty

Oh my word, I've been summonsed to go to court, what a shock. When I saw the return address on the back of the brown envelope this morning, 'Her Majesty's Courts Service', I thought oh heck, what have I done now. Have I done something naughty, break a speed limit, or drive through a red light perhaps. I hate getting official letters, me an honest citizen of the United Kingdom, I try my best to keep to the letter of the law. If I have inadvertantly crossed the line I am truly sorry, please let me off lightly and I promise never to do it again.

I tore open the top of the envelope and cautiously peered inside. Oooh look, a letter on pink paper with a pink heading, Jury Summons. Oh no, I don't want to do it. Boohoo, flippin heck, these things can get very complicated and take ages. I might get locked in the jury room with a lot of other people and not let out untill we arrive at a verdict. I might have to listen to a horrible and gory case full of blood and guts. I might get upset. I might want to go to the toilet in the middle of it, what will I do, put my hand up and asked to be excused. Oh dear.

I don't think I'm going to be able to get out of it, you can get into big trouble if you refuse to go without a valid excuse, or if you don't turn up. It's a £1,000 fine, yikes! I've got to fill the form out and send it back within seven days.

There's one good thing about it, although I can't claim for loss of earnings I can claim for travelling costs and a meal allowance. So if I take sandwiches I get to keep the money for my lunch, and I should make a few bob on the car allowance as it's a 70 mile round trip. If I have to attend for the full ten days I should have a bit of profit. My God, that's 700 miles, I could go to Scotland and back for that. Maybe not so good after all.

Anyway, it's not going to happen till the new year, plenty of time to get my head around it. Just had a thought, I might not have much to blog about while I am doing my duty, it's all got to be secret. Oh heck, I'd better start composing a few articles to fill the gaps, ha ha. Toodle pip.