Called up for jury service

A few years ago, Jaco was called up for jury service. Until that time, I thought foreign nationals would not be eligible. Clearly, we are. And you could be called up any time.

One day I found some junk mail and a serious-looking envelope on the doormat. I had a look, saw the word ‘tribiwnlysoedd’ and realised what was happening. I was summoned for jury duty! I had a bit of a look at the documents inside. They were a mess; I had all the paperwork in both Welsh in English, but they were not sorted by language. And they had page numbers, but each set of documents started counting three times. I had six pages one! That is hardly practical. But the information was clear: unless I was incapable of understanding what was going on, I was expected to show up at the court in Caernarfon shortly after the start of term. The duration was supposed to be two weeks, but it could overrun. Postponing was an option, but I figured I might want to get it over with. There is no time in the year when this is convenient. My employer was expected to cooperate. And I had to respond quite quickly.

My summons

The first thing I did was have a look at my teaching in the designated two week period they had indicated. They said it could overrun, but I figured I might cross that bridge when I reached it. And I came up with a possible solution for everything that was timetabled in that period. There were two days in the field; these are really difficult to reschedule, so I hoped the people I normally go with could do it without me. And then there were lectures. I figured I could probably swap most of them with my colleagues who were timetabled later in the year. For two of them I didn't see that happen; I hoped Jaco was willing to deliver one, and I figured the other one might have to just be a recording.

I then sent a message to the Head of School to bring him the bad news, and tell him how I thought we could deal with it. He agreed and hoped I could make it happen.

So far the responses have been positive. It looks like this is going to go ahead. And I have also heard that it is possible you don't need to serve the full two weeks. I hope I will be lucky! But there is only one way to find out. In early October, I am going to see the British justice system from up close and personal!