Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader
June 2023 - Toronto ON
Hilton Richmond St. Toronto
Saturday I was so zonked after two days of jury duty I slept 11 hours. I got caught up on my posts and blog reading. I did some chores and then vegged the rest of the afternoon.
Saturday's libation.
Sunday after a big breakfast cooked by John, I baked a cream cheese banana bread.
Traffic got crazy!
Monday
Jury duty continued this week.
I headed out on the 8:00 bus for jury duty.
Now I have a system. Since I am early I stop in the Sheraton Hotel to use the washroom (the one in the courthouse on the main floor is grotty and there is only 1 per in the jury room).
The "cow gates" at Osgoode Hall.
Osgoode Hall, at Queen Street West and University Avenue, next to the Superior Court of Justice, is an edifice of distinction. Home to the highest courts in Ontario and to the Law Society of Upper Canada, it’s one of a few rare old Toronto buildings that have staved off the lapping tides of urban uglification. The plaque out front describes it accurately, if immodestly, as “one of the finest examples of Victorian Classical architecture in Canada.”Like any historical building, Osgoode Hall has its myths. Part of its stately charm is the cast-iron fence that surrounds it and the unusual “kissing gates,” which mimic rural gateways designed to keep livestock from wandering. Long-standing tradition has it that the entrances were installed for just that purpose: to keep itinerant 19th-century cattle from gumming up the wheels of justice.
Is the legend true? Architectural drawings by William Storm, who supervised the 1860 expansion that included the fence, actually referred to the gates as “cattle guards.” And they work: in 1950 a group of students attempted unsuccessfully to bring a cow through one of the entrances, which is the kind of thing students did before sex and the internet were invented.
1927
People watching at City Hall at lunch hour. Yes, I managed to dodge the fellow juror that had insisted on following me at lunch on Friday!
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The courthouse is just out of the photo on the left by those two bluish buildings.
Odd photo shoot.
Across the street, Sheraton gardens for a bathroom break.
Back in the courtroom, we are dismissed at 3:30 so I do some shopping and get a frappucino.
This is a keeper.
Opera House as I make my way to the courthouse.
We met at 9:30 and in court by 10. City Hall at lunchtime. This is the only time we can leave and spend some time on our own. Breaks are taken in the juror's room.
John met me at 5 and we strolled down to Libretto's for an early dinner.
We then took the streetcar to the Distillery District as we were seeing The Secret Chord: A Leonard Cohen Experience.
We had seen this in 2018 but it was well worth seeing again! It was a totally different cast.
We took the streetcar to Spadina and then Uber'd home.
Wednesday court at 10 AM. Break and snacks at 11:30 and then lunch at 1:00. We finished at 3 after the judge instructed that we would not sit on Thursday. So be prepared on Friday for closing arguments and the judge's directions, we should come prepared with 3 days of overnight requirements.
However, there was a possibility that we wouldn't be back until Monday. He also mentioned that Monday is election day for the mayor of Toronto. He said we could speak privately to the court officer about our voting requirements as some had already voted either by mail or in advance polling, some may choose not to vote. If you were voting on Monday, then there would be cases of people who lived out of the city and voting only opened at 10.
There were very rejected-looking jurors in the room as we returned for other directions. As a group, our voting choices were given to the officer who gave them to the judge. He also had some other decisions to make.
At 4:30 he ruled on one decision. Then at five, we were advised of a change of plans. We would not sit Thursday or Friday, and report at 12:30 on Monday for a 1 PM start along with our suitcases.
Most were happier now, knowing we would not be spending our weekend in a hotel.
With the shock that our electronics will be taken away when we begin deliberation, and that we will have our own hotel rooms (located anywhere around the city - even airport) but no TVs, clocks, radios!!! I use my phone as my reader! I was thinking I better go buy some books. But a juror mentioned a library in their condo and I remembered we have a lovely library.
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I selected 4 books, hopefully, that is more than enough!!!
I thought about bringing my embroidery but then realized I would need scissors and that wouldn't make it through the metal detector at the courthouse! People have already been warned about forks and knives (for their lunches).
BTW, this cartoon cannot happen in Canada. It is illegal to ever talk about the decisions made by a jury.
The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits a juror from discussing or disclosing the nature or the content of the jury deliberations not revealed in open court, even after the jury has been discharged.
Today the boom lift (a common machine used for overpass road maintenance) has been given a rather intense makeover at York for Pride month.
Thursday
I can sleep in! I went downtown for a haircut and some retail therapy.
In the Financial Disstrict.
Collective Arts opened a new location in Union Station. Click here for their brewery location on Hamilton. They are known for their support of local artists.
Friday
We went for pedicures at 11 and a manicure for me.
Gorgeous tree as we walked over.
Some new neighbours! Yes, poké!!!!! I love it.
I received a call Friday afternoon from a "private number". It was a court officer asking if I was Juror #NN, yes, and was told that we don't need to show up on Monday but meet on Tuesday morning at 9:30 with our suitcases.
COOKING
Saturday pot roast in slow cooker
Sunday mushroom bacon pasta
John is on cooking duty this week.
Monday chicken curry
Tuesday dinner out pizza
Wednesday order in Swiss Chalet
Thursday pork belly
bites and salad.
Drink bought at Collective Arts.
Friday steak, baked potato and asparagus broccolini.
WATCHING
Continuing with Red Rock.
READING
I started The Weight of Ink - Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history.
This is a good book, but not for me right now.
I needed something "lighter" so I read What Have We Done. Meh, over the top, cliched.
Started The Second Life of Mirielle West - Based on the little-known true story of America’s only leper colony, brings vividly to life the Louisiana institution known as Carville, where thousands of people were stripped of their civil rights, branded as lepers, and forcibly quarantined throughout the entire 20th century.
What an interesting post. You had an unusual week. Serving on a jury is always a stretch. I've never had to stay over night or sequestered. I was on one grand jury where we had to decide if there was enough evidence to try the case. Some people got confused and thought by letting the case go forward we were convicting the man of murder. They didn't want to do that, but it wasn't a case that we made a decision, we just looked at all the gory evidence and said yay or nay on whether he would be brought to trial. Your pictures of Toronto are amazing. I thought the comparison of the gate pictures was particularly telling. Today's picture was relaxing with trees and greenery, while the ancient one was nothing but traffic. It makes it look as though Toronto is less busy now than it was 100 years ago. I love all the artsy places, fountains, water features, small groups of people gathered. How much more pleasant than streetcars and traffic! Cartoons were fun! Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, TC. Our trial system is very different than the American system. Yes, the pictures of the gates are a real contrast. But that is because I was facing north when I took the photo. I will get a shot this week facing south so that it is looking the same way as the older one.
Delete'What students did before sex and the internet were invented'. Haha.
ReplyDeleteToronto is looking so summery, especially with the potted annuals spread around.
I remember yonks ago now when I was in the very same room being hauled away to be one of the 'chosen" and there were four young thugs in the box and naturally all the women who could have been their moms were rejected immediately. We had such a laugh about t. As it was such a given.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Yes, WWW, I have some opinions on this as well. Sent you a DM.
DeleteAlmost everyone I know who is selected for a jury ends up not serving; the lawyers come to an agreement before the trial begins. However, I served on a jury for six days. It resulted in a hung jury and I was one of the reasons this happened. I would not change my mind nor would one other person. We were told that the trial would have to start all over, but we would not change our mind. I was very disappointed in my fellow jurors---they talked about the ongoing trial when we were on a break and they voted to give money to the person who was asking for it, even they conceded that the other party had done nothing wrong! Hope your trial goes much better. And I'm glad you didn't have to spend the weekend sequestered!
ReplyDeleteDeb, in Canada, trials before juries are typically saved for criminal cases. In the US, juries are used more often, including on non-criminal cases that, in this country, would typically simply go before a judge. I must say, on a whole, my fellow jurors are taking this very seriously..
DeleteOsgoode Hall has always appealed to me.
ReplyDeleteI hope the trial concludes quickly. I’m not sure if juries are sequestered here for deliberation, but we also have the confidentiality law.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos as always.
Wishing you a happy week
I've reported for Jury Duty more times than I can count but was never selected to be a juror on a case! Always wanted to so I'm enjoying your posts very much. Too funny that you had momentarily forgotten your condo has a library!
ReplyDeleteYah, I did NOT know there was once a leper colony right here in the USofA! Sounds like Carville's Cure by Pam Fessler might be another good book about it. I learn so much from bloggers and readers!
The bathroom break garden looks nice. I would want to go there. Karen
ReplyDeleteThe bathroom break gardens look nice. I would want to go there. Karen
ReplyDeleteLove those incredible gates! I have just been excused from jury duty due to my terrible hearing and my upcoming cataract op. And now for all the tests...
ReplyDelete