The Old Baily, March 23

One's nerdiness is never as apparent as when onemakes a study visite OUTSIDE the educational frame work, on one's time off, in a foreign (well...) city. Nevertheless I spent half of my Friday visiting reknowened London's Criminal Court: the Old Baily. There as a line to get in and diifucelt to get a space inside but not being part of a group I managed to get a spot at a murdr trial. Interesting and exciting in many ways. Of course what I experiencd is very much down to what I'm used to and what I writeis not so much a critical comment of what I saw as a description what I noticed and reacted to. The most obvious thing that was ( because it's such a strange concept for a Swede) seeing these professionals dressed up in 16th C wigs and volumnious black cloaks. I knew it would be like that but still it felt very weird. Just as strange was witnessing the Jury being sworn in. Why? Well in Sweden we don't have a jury (except in certain very restricted Q's) and with the now complete separation of church and state here, hearing swear to ”the all mighty Lord” with hands on the Bible (I persume the book was just that) to do their duty was just as much a trip in time as the cloak and wig. The judge sounded like a parody of Prince Charles. The barrister for the defence was an older, not starved, man from the upper class who with a somewhat drawling voice put forward his arguments against what his ”learned friend” had said. There was a bit of a balance when ”the crown” turned out to be (I didn't notice at first) a younger woman and the beilif? was a darek skinned, young woman. Not so much a trip back in time then. When people entered the court they bowed to the judge (” my Lord”). The part of the trial I witness was all about the admissablity of certain evidence (well except the jury being sworn in and then released until the trial propper could start later in the day). This is very different from the way it works in Sweden since here basically all eidence is admissable and it is the court's duty to value and analyse the evidence. Fascinating. Som funny? Bits were also hearing the posh defender quoting someone involved saying ”Paki basterd” which just was something you'd never expect to here from someone like him. When discussing whether havig fiddled with a cat flap could have been consiedred an act in a robbery and the purpotrator in question was a man 6 feet 2 taöö the judge said: "I would have had to be a very large cat."