Yesterday was one of those days. My trial wasn't sitting yesterday to accommodate the needs of a juror (thank you awesome juror! Not that you'll ever read this) so in court I had two very small hearings; so small that no prosecution barrister bothered turning up for either. I received a present of a duck egg blue pashmina from my judge (and an invitation for me and my usher to go round for dinner with the judge and his wife before I leave in March!) and went in to give him his present and gossip about the murder trial. Anyway, 11 o'clock rocked up and I was done. I'd brought all my holiday stuff with me so could feasibly have gone straight home but everyone was in the office being festive and cheerful.

Yesterday was also one of my journo friends' last day there so I wanted to hang about to say bye to him and had also been informed that there was going to be a mini party in the Press room in the Old Bailey basement so I went along to that after having been for a little Xmas tipple with Sally in the pub. My present to journo friend was a hideous poem a juror penned for me last year, in a case we were both working on, so I thought that would be funny for him. I had to inform him that it was 'so bad it makes you wish the English language didn't exist.' I'm not going to reproduce the whole thing but part of it goes-a like this:

"Pizza's (sic) were mentioned, in fact pepperoni,
The evidence was damning for Darren and Tony."

I KNOW.

The press mini-party then progressed onto a nearby pub, which I joined and which was great fun. I love the press. Eventually it was time for me to head up to Stevenage, so I was kindly escorted by one of the new journos, who carried one of my bags and came with me all the way to Finsbury Park where we had sneaked into First Class on the train and did some kissing :)

New Journo is actually one of the reasons why I stayed out so late yesterday. I first met him back in July, immediately fancied him and was reasonably friendly with him, but I was otherwise romantically (ha, slightly strong description) occupied and assumed that he already had a girlfriend anyway/wouldn't be interested in me/both. Our paths didn't cross a tremendous amount until recently, mainly because I am in a very, very good murder case which also happens to be in the court next to the Stephen Lawrence trial, so when the press get bored of that one they dip into mine. Anyhoo, at one of our Christmas drinks last week after New Journo had left I was informed by a source that I had an admirer and that it was New Journo. Yay. Hence yesterday my ensuring we were going to spend some time in the same vicinity. You make your own luck!

I have been awake since about 4.30 this morning, which does not bode well for my essential trip to the town centre later; essential because I have NOT BOUGHT ANY PRESENTS BAR ABOUT THREE. Yikes! May try and have a little snooze and a lay in now. Merry Christmas to all and if you have a spare eight minutes or so and are a fan of Tom and Jerry then this is my gift to you.

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