Wednesday 28 November 2007

Jury Duty.



My brother once told me, that whenever a jury retired to meet for the first time at a trial, the first person to speak by saying something like, "Who will be foreman of the jury?", would be elected foreman of the jury.
This was because most people would not like the job and would therefore select the first speaker for having shown at least some interest and initiative.
When I was selected for jury duty, I was determined to disprove this theory. When we first adjourned to the jury room, I indicated a fellow juror and said, "I think that this good lady would make an excellent foreman of the jury." Everyone agreed . She was pleased. I was pleased.

Monday 5 November 2007

Fortune Unfound.

In 1925 my Father posed in front of a portrait of his Great Grandfather, before going to seek his fortune in New Zealand.



He was just seventeen years of age when he boarded the S.S. "Rimutaka" for the trip via Panama to Auckland. His Journal reveals that he wanted to buy a farm and become a millionaire.




Alas, New Zealand in the time of the Great Depression, was not a place in which it was easy to make a fortune. After some 13 years of toil as a stockman on a sheep farm, my Father returned to the United Kingdom and started again as a student at an agricultural college. The adventure was achieved, but his health was damaged and he never spoke of those days down south.