Last week..

Dear reader.

I should apologize for not having actually written anything for a week. Digital photos are all very well but they should not be allowed to take over from good old keyboard tapping.

So, what of last week? I guess that I had less cases in my first week of work in order to ease me into the job, so last week was my first with all cylinders firing. I did 13 cases in Doncaster, Consett, Rotherham, Bradford, Hull and Scunthorpe. I drove to a lot more cases this week, mainly because places like Scunthorpe and Consett are hard to get to by public transport, and also because I had some tight timings. For example, on Friday I had two hearings in Bradford at 10.00 and then one in Scunthorpe at 12.00 - this involved some serious fast-lane activity!

I enjoyed having quite a few difficult cases this week. Some really tricky situations and complicated points of law. On the whole I think I fared pretty well, though it is a steep learning curve and working on my own means I need to carefully self-analyze.

Annoyingly I bumped my car in Consett on Tuesday. No structural damage but the bumper is scratched quite badly. However, since it would have cost £400 to repair, I am taking the view that a bit of a scratch can only add to Cecilia's cheeky character.

Midgley has well and truly arrived at the house, and we have been monkeying about putting pictures up and buying houseplants. Lewis Green has also been here for most of the week, and seems to have spent most of his time contemplating Su Doku puzzles and making animal noises. All this makes a fantastic change from my weeks of relative solitude, muttering to myself and throwing dumbells at burglars.

A film watching trend has unfolded. This week we have seen 'The Hostage' (pretty good, If a little bit predictable), 'I love Huckabees' (suprisingly entertaining, if taken with a pinch of salt), and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' (excellent, despite a rather abrupt ending). I have also acquired a small pile of second hand books (Tolstoy, Solzhenizyn and Kafka) from the brilliant 'Fossgate Books' which has a big collection of paperbacks in excellent condition.

That's the gist of it. We spent about several hours this morning doing a bible study in thecemeteryy next-door. This was very refreshing and hopefully a habit that will continue, as discipline is not my strong point.

I had some great feedback on the blog this week - thanks very much for that - its nice to know that people bump into me every so often in the ether.