Windy Wednesday

Woke up at 6:30 AM (didn't have to set the alarm today). Put on a pot of coffee. Since I don't have to worry about bathrooms in court this morning, I made myself some scrambled eggs and toast.

It's hard to tell the actual amount of snow that fell with all the blowing and drifting (on the TV, they said 6 inches) but I have a good foot of snow in the driveway. But, about 8:00 AM, the doorbell rang. Curious, I went over and opened the door, dressed in my bathrobe. There was a kid (maybe 10 years old) who offered to shovel my driveway for $15. Admiring his entrepreneurial attitude, I said, "Wait a minute." and went and got a $20 bill and told him he could keep the change if he did a good job.

I shaved and showered (using a rubber glove on my one hand to keep my bandage dry) and then left for court at 9:30 AM. Roads were BAD! Blowing and drifting snow, slushy, ice covered pavement all conspired to slow me down. But, I eventually got there about 10:20. (its a half hour drive, normally). So, went through the metal detectors (these must not be as sensitive as the ones at airports as my knee has not set them off yet) and upstairs to the overheated hall to read and wait.

We were to resume at 11:00 AM. We finally got called in at 11:30, then promptly sent into the jury room. Some people chatted, four people went back to work on the 500 piece puzzle that was in the room and others, like me, just read. At 12:30 the bailiff opened the door and told us to please take our seats. The judge then told us to go to lunch!

Back from lunch (I had two hotdogs from a street vendor) and back waiting in the hall... then waiting in the jury room. Funny sidebar: They got the puzzle almost done, but there were maybe 100 pieces missing! Finally we got called back into court, where the judge apologized for all the delays. He said witness hadn't shown up (they were all either drug dealers or drug users) and the police couldn't find them, but finally the defendant plead guilty to a lesser charge (original was armed carjacking). And we were dismissed! So, around 3:00 PM, headed back for home, my civic duty done (but still felt frustrated - I wanted to be in the courtroom if I had to be on a jury)

Now that the case is closed, I can talk about it. Interesting, but the defendants defense was that he did not carjack anybody, it was a case of what is know as crack (or rock) car rental. Seems that well-to-do suburbanite drug users who are a little short on cash come down to drug neighborhoods in Detroit and "rent" their nice cars to people in the neighborhoods for two or three hours so they can get cash for drugs. How do they assure they get their cars back? The threat is that if you don't bring the car back, the guy calls the cops and says he was carjacked, gives them the license number and the persons name. I never heard of this one!!!

Anyway, going home was much better (only the outside lanes were not plowed and salted) and other than continually having to use the windshield washers, I had no problems.

Driveway was finished and looking good when I arrived. Got in the mail, changed clothes and relaxed. For dinner I made the linguine with clams and watched TV until bedtime. Seems weird to be going back to work tomorrow. No more snow forecast, but still bitter cold (5 degrees F. on my thermometer with a brisk North wind)