7.00am. Woken by the alarm. Hit the "off" button, and stretch out my arm to find Mrs Bear. No Mrs Bear. Roll over to find her. Still no Mrs Bear. Roll over some more. Fall out of bed.
7.01am. Open my eyes. Ah. It all comes back to me. I'm not at home (hence no Mrs Bear) but in the exotic luxury of the Balsall Common Premier Inn, just outside Birmingham, where I'm due to mediate a three party dispute today.
7.30am. Having dressed and showered, arrive for breakfast. The nice lady from the Premier Inn asks me for my room number. Really can't cope with difficult questions like this so early in the morning. "It's sort of up the stairs and along to the right", I offer helpfully. "Dear me" she says, but never the less shows me to a table.
9.15am. Arrive early at the mediation venue, a well known firm of Birmingham solicitors, who act for the Defendant. The mediation is due to start at 10.00am, but I take the view that the mediator should always arrive first. Otherwise the parties might come to blows in the waiting room before the mediator arrives. Which would be bad. Or, they might settle the case without the mediator. Which would be worse.
9.30am. Meet the Defendant's solicitor. "This case won't settle", she tells me conspiratorially.
9.40am. The Third Party arrives. "This case won't settle", their solicitor declares confidently.
10.00am. We are due to start. No sign of the Claimant. This is a problem: it may be old fashioned, but I do prefer to mediate with all parties actually present.
10.10am. The Claimants arrive, apologising for their delay. They were held up on the Aston "Express" Way.
10.15am. A breakthrough! The Claimant's solicitor tells me that the Claimant has come with every intention of settling. All that is required is that between them the other two partes pay the Claiman'ts claim in full. Plus costs on an indemnity basis. That should be easy, then.
4.45pm. Settlement. A deal that seems to me to make excellent sense all round. "This case was always going to settle" the Defendant's solicitor tells me.
4.50pm Right. 10 minutes to agree a straight forward consent order, and we should be out of Birmingham before the rush hour traffic.
6.15m. The consent order is agreed. Well, 10 minutes was over optimistic, especially with three parties. Handshakes and goodbyes all round. It's as if a weight has lifted from the parties' shoulders since the settlement. They seem to be different, more relaxed, happier people. Which is great to see, and why I do this. Well, that, and the money.
6.30pm. In my car. Ingrid, my Swedish sat nav reckons I should be home by 9.00pm. Which means I may be in time for a late supper with Mrs Bear.
7.30pm. Still sitting on the Aston "Express" Way. That late supper with Mrs Bear is looking less likely.
10.30pm. Home. Mrs Bear has gone to bed. Junior Bear, who is home on study leave for his A levels, is in the kitchen and looks at me with interest. "And who are you?" he asks.
11.00pm. Bed. Wonderful. Better still, this bed does contain Mrs Bear. I put my arm round her, and she mumbles something sleepily. The world seems a good place to be, and perhaps it's even a world with one less conflict in it than it had this morning. And the day after tomorrow, I do it all again. In Manchester.
Stupid Bear.
