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burntcopperWhy do I always, always forget the fact that when I give blood I go listless a few hours later (post the general wooziness that getting rid of a pint of blood tends to give you) which is no fun? Also, achey arm and bruised finger.
:grumble:
Oh, and the National Blood Service? less organised than a *trout*. Seriously. The London database is not hooked up with the rest of the country, does not seem to have been updated with my details even though I asked them to over two weeks ago, it keeps insisting that the last time I attempted to give blood was back in 2001 (went for an interview in London, tried as the van was there and it was coming up for due date, but because my details were still in Falmouth, I couldn't - don't ask, how do they cope with drop-ins?) even though I'm rather obviously in possession of a brown card that was issued fairly recently. (design changes every couple of years, colour changes with number of times you've given - red is 1-4, blue is 5-9, brown is 10-25, etc)
:sigh: Twats. Really.
Though as usual, the actual experience is fun - chatty nurses, biccits and squash and cups of tea, doctors going 'er... please specify when and where you went overseas/were in a malarial country' and commiserating over the stupidity of having a question on there that says 'have you ever had sex with someone who's injected drugs or steroids/had sex with another bloke/paid for sex' because that is not exactly something that comes up in conversation during one night stands. Or short relationships. And exactly why there is no rule against girls who've had anal sex because surely that's just as risky as gay and bisexual men, who are banned from giving blood precisely because of this.
Also when the nurse tells a new donor 'we recommend not drinking alcohol for six hours after', I butted in and told them about what happened at Jo's birthday meal and thus recommended not drinking at all until the next day. There's the whole embarrassment factor to contend with. Because one drink and it went so much to my head that I slid off my chair.
Donor center on Margaret Street (it's off Regent Street past Niketown) has a very cool energy-saving device for the lights in the loos. Infra-red sensor is positioned to catch anyone who comes in, lights turn on, lights go off when you go out. I was very tempted to keep popping in for two seconds just to test the sensor.
:grumble:
Oh, and the National Blood Service? less organised than a *trout*. Seriously. The London database is not hooked up with the rest of the country, does not seem to have been updated with my details even though I asked them to over two weeks ago, it keeps insisting that the last time I attempted to give blood was back in 2001 (went for an interview in London, tried as the van was there and it was coming up for due date, but because my details were still in Falmouth, I couldn't - don't ask, how do they cope with drop-ins?) even though I'm rather obviously in possession of a brown card that was issued fairly recently. (design changes every couple of years, colour changes with number of times you've given - red is 1-4, blue is 5-9, brown is 10-25, etc)
:sigh: Twats. Really.
Though as usual, the actual experience is fun - chatty nurses, biccits and squash and cups of tea, doctors going 'er... please specify when and where you went overseas/were in a malarial country' and commiserating over the stupidity of having a question on there that says 'have you ever had sex with someone who's injected drugs or steroids/had sex with another bloke/paid for sex' because that is not exactly something that comes up in conversation during one night stands. Or short relationships. And exactly why there is no rule against girls who've had anal sex because surely that's just as risky as gay and bisexual men, who are banned from giving blood precisely because of this.
Also when the nurse tells a new donor 'we recommend not drinking alcohol for six hours after', I butted in and told them about what happened at Jo's birthday meal and thus recommended not drinking at all until the next day. There's the whole embarrassment factor to contend with. Because one drink and it went so much to my head that I slid off my chair.
Donor center on Margaret Street (it's off Regent Street past Niketown) has a very cool energy-saving device for the lights in the loos. Infra-red sensor is positioned to catch anyone who comes in, lights turn on, lights go off when you go out. I was very tempted to keep popping in for two seconds just to test the sensor.
