The weather had turned cooler and it was drizzling when I awoke this morning. Yet another almost sleepless night - the heat in my room is dreadful and the bed so soft that I simply could not get to sleep until around 3 a.m. I then drifted in and out of sleep fitfully. I awoke properly at 6.16 a.m., made tea and had a bath - reading my daily readings in it. I had a light continental breakfast - the thought of a heavy hot full English breakfast simply did not appeal to me. We checked out of the hotel at around 9.30 a.m. and trundled our boxes and cases of documents over to the Employment Tribunals' offices about ten minutes trundling away. The case started promptly at 10.30 a.m. and all my witnesses' evidence was heard by lunchtime at 12.45 p.m. I was very pleased with their performance and as I prepared my cross-examination for the afternoon felt that the case was going as well as expected. The Claimant was only in the witness stand for about 35 minutes and this was followed by legal submissions. It was clear from the way the Judge was interjecting that he was far from happy with our case and felt that some procedures had been overlooked. When we adjourned at the end of the submissions I felt that we were going to lose the case and that if the tribunal gave a judgment today it would be against us. Our only hope was that they would reserve judgment and review the voluminous transcripts put in the bundle. We were called back in after around 10-15 minutes and I feared that we would be facing a judgment against us. We were given a glimmer (not a bright shining light I have to say) of hope when the Judge pronounced that they needed further time to deliberate and review the evidence. Our glimmer became a reality. I left Exeter, after three days of the place, at around 4.30 p.m. in heavy traffic and rain. Vicki accompanied me on the journey back. The temperature was a muggy 19 degrees Celsius. As we travelled further east the weather cleared (although it was a misty haze) and the temperature soared to a sweltering 29 degrees Celsius by the time we reached Salisbury. The heat was becoming unbearable outside and I was grateful for my air-conditioned car. When I got home at around 6.30 p.m. I found the kids messing about with the hosepipe the swimming pool out on the lawn with some water in it. I had a shower and then was picked up by Steve and Klynn to go to Maxime's for an evening meal. What a fantastic house she has! Massive room, lovely garden, swimming pool, wonderful conservatory. I can see why she is so happy in the house with its close proximity to Salisbury city centre. All of the luxury of her previous house in a more communal setting. She served us beef strogonoff, salmon, beautiful cheeses and trifle with Courvoisier. We talked about Food for Thought and Spring Harvest and in the lounge over coffee, bizarre stories of death including my signing of a French condolences book instead of a visitors' book. Tonight I am so tired after three consecutive nights of heat and little sleep. Off to London tomorrow for a luncheon meeting with a barrister and a meeting with STT.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
A Day in the Employment Tribunals
The weather had turned cooler and it was drizzling when I awoke this morning. Yet another almost sleepless night - the heat in my room is dreadful and the bed so soft that I simply could not get to sleep until around 3 a.m. I then drifted in and out of sleep fitfully. I awoke properly at 6.16 a.m., made tea and had a bath - reading my daily readings in it. I had a light continental breakfast - the thought of a heavy hot full English breakfast simply did not appeal to me. We checked out of the hotel at around 9.30 a.m. and trundled our boxes and cases of documents over to the Employment Tribunals' offices about ten minutes trundling away. The case started promptly at 10.30 a.m. and all my witnesses' evidence was heard by lunchtime at 12.45 p.m. I was very pleased with their performance and as I prepared my cross-examination for the afternoon felt that the case was going as well as expected. The Claimant was only in the witness stand for about 35 minutes and this was followed by legal submissions. It was clear from the way the Judge was interjecting that he was far from happy with our case and felt that some procedures had been overlooked. When we adjourned at the end of the submissions I felt that we were going to lose the case and that if the tribunal gave a judgment today it would be against us. Our only hope was that they would reserve judgment and review the voluminous transcripts put in the bundle. We were called back in after around 10-15 minutes and I feared that we would be facing a judgment against us. We were given a glimmer (not a bright shining light I have to say) of hope when the Judge pronounced that they needed further time to deliberate and review the evidence. Our glimmer became a reality. I left Exeter, after three days of the place, at around 4.30 p.m. in heavy traffic and rain. Vicki accompanied me on the journey back. The temperature was a muggy 19 degrees Celsius. As we travelled further east the weather cleared (although it was a misty haze) and the temperature soared to a sweltering 29 degrees Celsius by the time we reached Salisbury. The heat was becoming unbearable outside and I was grateful for my air-conditioned car. When I got home at around 6.30 p.m. I found the kids messing about with the hosepipe the swimming pool out on the lawn with some water in it. I had a shower and then was picked up by Steve and Klynn to go to Maxime's for an evening meal. What a fantastic house she has! Massive room, lovely garden, swimming pool, wonderful conservatory. I can see why she is so happy in the house with its close proximity to Salisbury city centre. All of the luxury of her previous house in a more communal setting. She served us beef strogonoff, salmon, beautiful cheeses and trifle with Courvoisier. We talked about Food for Thought and Spring Harvest and in the lounge over coffee, bizarre stories of death including my signing of a French condolences book instead of a visitors' book. Tonight I am so tired after three consecutive nights of heat and little sleep. Off to London tomorrow for a luncheon meeting with a barrister and a meeting with STT.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment