Things can only get better

ladyholly

I think Durban was a stop off for troops on their way to the Middle East and N. Africa as it was very dangerous to use the Strait of Gibralter and the Med. sea so ships went the long way round. My father talked about being in Durban too and I know he was on his way to Libya. Its a shame that generation said so little and now we are at the mercy of official history which doesnt always tell things exactly as they were. ( I am being polite for once).  Those of us that had parents serving during the war just have little snippets of information in general. I only discovered my Dad was wounded a few years ago when my sister was researching family history and got his service records. I knew he had a big scar on his leg but I either assumed or was told it was from playing rugby. 

Sun_Addict

Happy December 🎄

Wednesdays are usually NSDs but not today. I've been to the big Mr T to pick up some lights for the Christmas tree, 500 of them, it will be like Blackpool illuminations 😆 It's a 7ft tree so the 200 I already have look lost on it. Hopefully at some stage today I'll finish off decorating it. I also picked up a couple of small Christmas presents while I was there.

The wind woke me up in the early hours of this morning. Once again Mr SA had the bedroom window wide open. I noticed quite a bit of garden damage locally on this morning's walk. I daren't go and look at the bamboo fence at the bottom of the garden.

A plumber is supposedly coming today to look at the mixer tap in the kitchen. This is a saga that's been ongoing for the best part of this year. It has been repaired, then replaced and nothing stops it from dripping, it drives me nuts. Thank goodness we're not on a water meter. I've got BG homecare cover but the excess has gone up from £60 to £79 since earlier this year. It used to be nil. I guess this is to stop people calling them out for small repairs and is only worth using for high cost emergencies. 

Some interesting stories about parents serving in the war, mine were too young but my mum had a much older brother who did. My dad was a naval officer in the 50s/60s and he was stationed in Durban before he met my mum.

Sun_Addict

Mr SA has been summoned to jury service at the Coroners office. I've sent them an email to explain why he should be excluded, aside from being unable to get around unaided, his thought processes are rather random at the best of times. I've never been summoned to jury, typical that he gets something that sounds so interesting. I've actually been in the Coroners office, as my friend used to work there and showed me round, it's a lovely room. 

ladyholly

I used to work with people with learning difficultiies and one of our residents was called for jury service - he was excused with no problem so hopefully so will MrSA.

Scottiedog_3

I was called for jury duty in the High Court in Glasgow a few summers ago. It was unbelievably hot and over a hundred of us were summoned. We had to sit on the stairs because there weren't enough seats. Interesting to see how the Scottish legal system differs from the English one.  I was the first of 15 to be called up to sit on the jury, unnervingly close to the accused, who looked as if he had just escaped from "Peaky Blinders". Since the other 14 jury members were Glaswegians, it was riotously funny. Imagine Billy Connolly types pitching in their comments in the jury room. We kept getting sent to the jury room when the lawyers wanted to argue amongst themselves. The judge was absolutely lovely but the Procurator Fiscal was a complete numpty.  If I ever commit a murder, I would send for the defence lawyer - she was brilliant and withering in a specially Scottish way. The prosecution had to abandon the case because most of the witnesses were obviously lying  through their teeth. I've never drunk so much tea in my life. Jury dismissed- No case to answer.

SusieT

Oh the thought of Mr SA doing jury service, from the stories you tell here he would probably try to take his scooter into the courthouse, want a tv when he gets bored, beer, and breaks at specific times, would probably interrupt the prosecutor or defence and tell them that they are wrong, and just stroll off if he felt he needed the loo  

amber03

Compared it’s supposed to be random if you are selected for jury service, me, my DH and DS1 were all selected within a six month period. This is something I never wanted to do, but as I had no reason not to, went ahead with it. It was one of the best things I’ve done. I ended up with a lovely group of 6 women, who got on really well even tho we were on different cases but met up in the mornings, sometimes lunchtimes and when we hadn’t been selected. Both of the cases I was selected for were like Carry On episodes, absolutely hilarious just the way the defendants and their families behaved in court. The second case I volunteered to be spokesman for the jury, which amazed me, but thought I would do it as it’s something I might never do again. What did shock me was how many of the cases were sexual cases like rape or assault, which thankfully I was never selected for.Xx

Sun_Addict

There's no way he could do it, he just hasn't got the concentration span and what would he do about his afternoon nap. Can you imagine him not getting his lunch dead on 12, oh my days 😆

He has been a real pain today, quite argumentative. I was halfway through putting the lights on the tree this lunchtime when I had to go to a work meeting, he decided to 'help' and made a right mess of the lights. He's also stressing about this jury service, getting himself all worked up about it.

Money-wise another £100 overpayment has gone to the additional borrowing part of the mortgage. £250 has gone to my regular saver and loads of direct debits have gone out. The last decent payment of the gas/electric has gone out, dreading to see what it goes up to next month, it switches to normal tariff mid December. Might have to knock the overpayment on the head for a while.

Made roast tomato soup for lunch from my WW Comfort book, made 2 portions, one for tomorrow. It was very tasty. Making smoky veg sausage and bean casserole for tonight's dinner, if I can be bothered.

Humdinger1

@Sun_Addict,   are you sure that 500 Christmas lights will be enough?!  You might not be able to pick your house out from the moon.  I have a friend who says that as an ex-trading standards man he considered himself rather dull and couldn't understand why he was always stopped at airport security.   When I pointed out that they'd probably heard about his lights and decided to investigate, he could only agree...

Sun_Addict

Humdinger1 said:

@Sun_Addict,   are you sure that 500 Christmas lights will be enough?!  You might not be able to pick your house out from the moon.  I have a friend who says that as an ex-trading standards man he considered himself rather dull and couldn't understand why he was always stopped at airport security.   When I pointed out that they'd probably heard about his lights and decided to investigate, he could only agree...

There was a box of 1000 lights but thought that might be a tad overdoing it 😆 The 500 lights look great, now I’ve sorted them out, it’s a big tree.