a forest of paperwork

We collected a large box from the Royal Mail office last Saturday. Seeing it was from the solicitor, we put off opening it until Monday so that it didn't spoil the weekend or Halloween.  That would have been Steve's dad's birthday, had he not died in his late sixties as a result of mesothelioma. But we had to face up to dealing with it eventually.....


Inside the box were two witness statements from one of the defendants in Steve's damages case plus their related "exhibits", and two large lever arch files stuffed with 60+ documents from the "Disclosure List".  This box of delights was followed up by another bundle from the defendant's expert witness, with yet more exhibits, which arrived at the start of this week.  A lot of paperwork to go through, but go through it we did. 


It took much longer than expected to sort, read and digest the various documents, and for Steve to write his observations on what we had seen and convey these to the solicitor. The journey through this forest of paper work took us on a roller coaster of emotions, but we got through it eventually.  During this process, the sequence of events going back to December 1971 which eventually lead to Steve's mesothelioma diagnosis last June came into much sharper focus than ever before - memories were triggered and photos rediscovered, which was helpful. However, it also meant that the old wounds were reopened and salt rubbed in. Not surprisingly, we were feeling a bit tired and emotional by the end of it all.


Spending so much time on the court case was not what we thought we would be doing this week, our last at home together before I resume work on Monday after a very long break. But hey, it's done. We've put the lid on the box and have taken ourselves off to wind down from the experience. It's so tempting to put the lot on a bonfire tonight and enjoy the warm glow!  


Whatever you are doing tonight (or tomorrow) to celebrate Fireworks night, have fun, but please take care....