The Blood Donor

Blood was 6.1 this morning.
Dragged my ass to spin despite reeeeeallly not wanting to spin this morning. Did some work, and then went to do a thing I've never done before. The...erm...the clue is in the title, really. For the Brits, you know and I know there are tons of gags to be made about becoming a blood donor, cos you'll have seen Tony Hancock already do them better than I ever could.

Interestingly, they don't take "nearly an armful" from you any more - they don't take a pint. Just three-quarters of a pint...apparently, the increasing thinness of veins among donors has meant they're happy enough to take just three-quarters of a pint from each donor.

For the non-Brits....just go with it. There was a comedian in the 1950s who was our version of Lucy. His most famous half-hour of sitcom was called The Blood Donor, and saw him radically misunderstand the business of blood donation. When asked to donate a pint, his reaction was ""A pint, have you gone raving mad? That's very nearly an armful!"

All on the same page now?

Right, let's move on from Hancock. I had my donation-cherry popped in the back of a van, there being a need these days for portable blood banks. Got to say, I loved the whole thing - the feeling of doing three-quarters of a pint of good was pretty keen, the banter was fun...but get this: not only was I allowed to have an entirely guilt-free chocolate biscuit at the end - "We've lowered your blood sugar quite a bit, so go on!" they said! But I was also banned - categorically banned! - from doing any exercise for the rest of the day.

Sadly, I can't donate blood every day. Back to the slog tomorrow. But on the other hand, we here in the UK have TWO weekends, back to back. Apparently, some rich old bint is celebrating....something or other. Buggered if I could care less what...