And I don't know what street compares with Mott Street in July

[redbird]

I got up too early and spent a boring day of jury duty mostly sitting and/or standing around outside a courtroom. Somewhere in there I spent about 2 minutes explaining to the judge why I really don't want to be on the jury for the case in question.

The morning got longer and more tedious as it went on and I found myself wishing for lunch already, and wishing I'd gotten in the line for explanations sooner. And then they sent us out to lunch at 1, with instructions "be back at 2:30." I left the building, turned right on Lafayette Street, walked up to Excellent Dumpling, ordered, started drinking tea, and felt much better even before I got my food. The food was quite tasty, but greasier than it has been before, so I left lots of cabbage bits in the bottom of the platter rather than pick them out of the oil. I asked about filling my thermos with tea before I left, and they said to go ahead, no charge (I tipped more than I otherwise would have, because it seemed to balance things somehow). And then I wandered, east along Walker Street, south on Mott, and back west on Bayard. I skipped the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, but bought a pound of grapes for a dollar from a hole-in-the-wall that was selling only that, and ate between a third and half of them in Columbus Park before going back to the courthouse. (They said no food or drink on that floor; I pushed the point with a big cup of tea from Starbucks, but seeded grapes seemed as though they would be excessive.) I also made notes on things to buy tomorrow, when I will have more room in my pack and not be going to the gym at the end of the day: some ginger, and which vendor had the best-looking red cherries (I don't need bean sprouts, durian, fresh peanuts, or even mushrooms, but I may get blueberries).

This is part of why I asked them to reschedule my jury duty from March to early June: the task itself may still be tedious and potentially inconvenient, but I got Chinatown on a gorgeous, sunny June day. I spent a chunk of the afternoon's waiting around chatting with a woman who lives in the neighborhood, about stuff including not only how slowly the court was doing stuff, but our shared delight in the city. (I wasn't sure whether to be sorry for, or annoyed at, the man who seemed to think that if he repeated often enough that he didn't want to be there, and was supposed to be/have been at work at 4, it would get him excused from jury duty. (He apparently had believed this would work, at least to the extent that he didn't warn his boss in advance so they could arrange for someone to cover for him, rather than leaving his coworker to do the first part of the shift on her own.)

Tomorrow we get to show up at 10 instead of 9, and I will either be told that my reason (travel) for wanting to be excused from a long trial is sufficient, or have to hope that something else I say in answer to questions from the judge or lawyers gets me excused. (If you're going to make suggestions, bear in mind that I have given my word to tell the truth here.)

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I wish you luck, and share your delight in the day regardless. :)

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

(Caveat: I've never been accepted for a Trial Jury, and have been excused the past couple of decades, most likely largely because I've mentioned (honestly) that my hearing difficulty makes it impossible for me to evaluate witness responses adequately by tone-of-voice.) Here in California (at least) trial lawyers on both sides seem to like to reject potential jurors who seem to be above average in intelligence &/or academic achievement. And both they and judges tend to react negatively to anything suggestive of "Juror Nullification" (aka "'innocent' on the grounds that this particular Law is assinine"). For me, the latter has never arisen, but I do (in perfect honesty) think that there are situations in which I'd embrace it. YMMV, of course.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

[Addendum] Oh, yeah.... My Jury Duty calls are usually in Pasadena -- which is reputed to have more restaurants per capita than any other city in the U.S., many of which are Very Good (& Expensive). It also has several good used-book stores. Actually, I'd rather _like_ to have extended Jury Duty there, if only as an excuse for extended self-indulgence.