Briefing Gino's Lawyer

I wake at six, having slept well in Rachel's Ikea bed, resolving to buy a new bed as soon as I return from Holland. Norman is still snoring gently on my dressing gown. I have woken with some more ideas and questions about the tribunal process and as my unconscious mind has always been smarter than me, I get up in order to write them down before they fade. Once I have done this, I collect Norman and let him run onto Gino's lawn to relieve himself, before making myself a large teapot full of strong tea. It is another glorious July morning, but there is a heavy dew on the patio furniture, which I have to wipe dry before sitting down. I check eBay for beds and find the identical one in which I have slept, up for auction in Leeds, the owner claims it has only been used twice. Perhaps I will bid for it and collect it, if I am successful, when I return from holiday. By seven o'clock I can hear my sister and her husband stirring and then the distinctive sound of the shower. While they are getting ready, I ring Felicity, as I know she is also up with the larks. She has made things up with her daughter, Melissa, but their "adult conversation", was disrupted by the arrival of the district nurse and is awaiting reconvening. I arrange to see her in the Poppy Seed tomorrow, our friend Hanne, the Great Dane, is also back from holiday in Denmark and will be there as well. I have to move my Chrysler, in order to let Jackie out to work at a quarter to eight in her VW Polo and my other neice, Rebecca, leaves ten minutes later in her Vauxhall Corsa. None of them eat breakfast, which is sacrilege to me, and I persuade Gino to make me some whole meal toast, whilst I take a shower and dress. He also eats a slice, as we sit in the garden, before setting off for the solicitors in Huddersfield, at a quarter past ten. I leave Norman in his basket in the kitchen, he has had a good run in the largish garden and deposited "treasure", which I have scooped up and flushed down the toilet. Jackie has booked time off work, in order to support her husband and we collect her from her office, which is only five minutes drive away and adjacent to the M62, the motorway provides the fastest route to Huddersfield. We arrive early, at twenty minutes to eleven and wait in reception until the employment specialist is free to see us. I try to keep the conversation light, but both Jackie and I can see that Gino is finding the waiting difficult. We are shown into a meeting room at ten minutes to eleven, our solicitor is a youngish chap, somewhat shy of forty and immediately takes charge. I have emailed him a synopsis and have brought Gino's file, but I am happy for him to run things his way, Gino is his client after all and if we decide to go ahead with this firm, he will be handling things from here. He is very impressive, finding his way to the relevant data/evidence and leading Gino, gently but firmly through the meeting. I had forewarned him that my brother in law was in a fairly fragile condition and he clearly has experience in situations of this kind. The meeting proceeds for two and a half hours, Gino and Jackie are happy with the lawyer, whose name is John and I concur. My brother Andrew did well to find this chap for us, through his union contacts. We leave with a clear plan of action, an agreed fee structure and confidence that we have done the right thing. When you are travelling through a jungle, an experienced guide is worth their weight in gold. We celebrate by having lunch together, in a pub near Jackie's office and then she goes back to work and Gino and I return to his house. When we arrive, I let Normy into the garden and then feed him, before helping Gino draft a letter to his erstwhile employers, along the lines agreed with John, our lawyer. This done, I load Norman into the car, say goodbye to Gino until Thursday, he is running me to the airport, and then drive home. I repeat my inside lane tactics on the way back, driving with all the windows down, as it is so very hot and arriving home for four o'clock, my Chrysler having averaged just over 70 mpg for the round trip, not bad for a car that is somewhat bigger than a Ford Mondeo. When we get indoors, I unpack my bag and then hang out the washing that hadn't quite dried yesterday. Norman is ready for his dinner, so I feed him and then make tea and rye bread, with some apricot jam for me and I eat this in the garden, while I start my new book, "Suite Francaise", by Irene Nemirovsky, which I have had for ages, but not yet read. The first chapters, which portray the events leading up to the fall of Paris in 1940, from the perspective of different families and characters, is very impressive. It is too hot to do much else, although a cooler day is forecast for tomorrow. I have a blood test tomorrow at ten, to monitor the progress of my prostate cancer, and then tea with Felicity and Hanne afterwards, in the Poppy Seed. I also need to buy Norman's rations for his stay with Sarah and Betty and some Euro's from the post office. Hopefully there will still be time for a swim in the afternoon and cooking with Laura later. I spend the evening catching up with my blogs and then go to bed at ten, with a sense of relief that we have found Gino a safe pair of legal hands. I have done my part now and I hope that everything turns out well for him and that the process is over fairly quickly.