Doodle of estate agents. Dip pen and ink.

After feeding the birds at 6:am I went back to sleep a while. The community worker picked me up at 8:30 and drove us off to the courthouse at Wyong. My name went down on a sheet at the front bench. It was a list of people awaiting the attention of the legal aid solicitor. At about 10am the legal aid solicitor called us both in to her office. Her name was Elizabeth and she seemed nice and efficient. She asked for the court papers and when I was taking them out of the folder she exclaimed. “Oh you are that Steve” I wasn’t sure if I should admit to being that Steve as I didn’t know which Steve she was referring to. I am certainly one of the very many Steve’s and I was the one on the spot at the moment. I nodded.

You have a lot of paperwork in our office and it is too much for me to process here you need to call our office and make an appointment. She started shuffling us out the door but the community worker wanted some information from that visit seeing we had come all that way and needed more information before we braved the office. She is quite tough and simply stood until she had the information she needed. I understand Elizabeth’s point as she was buried in people who needed help and were probably all coming up with cunning ideas to beat their charges. She had a moment to breath and was happy to see us out. No, she was not pushy or impolite, just quick.

We drove all the way back here and after the community worker had said cheerio I wandered in to phone and called the Gosford office of Legal Aid. Elizabeth had written her name on a page for me as well as some notes and these were to be used to ensure an appointment.The girl who answered phone assured me that she had no idea what I was talking about. The Legal Aid process involved turning up at their office on a Monday morning between 9:30 and 11am and joining the queue. It is a bit of a lottery and only the first twelve are seen. I am assured by that girl that if I am there by 9:30 I will get seen. How do people who do not have a community worker and a host of helpers get through this process. I would not even be able to keep up the hunt to Wyong Court House on my own let alone swanning all over the region to different offices.

We asked them if they would be pointing us to a different local lawyer at some point. No they said, we will be keeping this in-house. Unless we cannot assist you, in which case we will not be keeping it in-house. Oh…good.

It is very reassuring that they are taking such care over the reading of the documents. There is always the fear that the process will just shunt you in and out without a chance to fight and without a chance to have the case seen to properly. I think this is an important case. Something quite nasty has been going on and all the pain and hard slog are easier to bear if it is not just to be ignored. Anyway. I am much reassured by their attention and by Elizabeth’s recognition.

I celebrated with some fish and chips and now I have to snooze awhile. The trip to Wyong and walking about has left me very tired