Good Cheer.

I was summoned for jury duty today, one of those inevitabilities of life. They kept the pool of potential jurors at the court until lunchtime and, since all the cases on the roster had either been settled out of court or the defendants had opted to plea-bargain, we were free to go. The County Superior Court House is rather a severe old building with thick walls, small windows and shiny enamel paint on the walls. Although there was a board up proclaiming proudly that the last execution in Massachusetts was in ~1949, I still had the feeling that somewhere, lurking behind one of the big, heavy oak doors, "Old Sparky" was all charged up ready to dispense his particular brand of "justice". I left the place with great relief but an unsettled feeling followed me. A stop on the way home this evening at a neighborhood sports bar for some grease, salt and a glass of something has helped to alleviate my disquiet. The back-lit bottles provided a nice Blip. I should also add that there was no possibility of a Blip at the courthouse. The metal detector on the way in, the confiscation of the little pocketknife on my key ring and the signs posted were all adamant about this point, maybe for the best.