An Unexpected Visit

I was only planning to pop into town today to grab tickets for the various freshers events, but as luck had it, the postman arrived before we were ready to go. Why is this significant you may be asking. Well, with it he delivered a very important letter from the National Blood Service detailing that I was now able to give a donation again - slightly early because of their dwindling blood stocks. Today seemed like the perfect day and would give me time to recover before the freshers fun begins on Saturday night.

I do find it amazing the number of excuses people find for not giving blood and I am of the opinion that anyone who is physically able to donate should be made to do so short of severe phobias or psychological issues etc. I wasn't able to give for the first couple of years after I turned 17 because I'd had several vaccinations to go to Brazil with the school and that requires 6 months grace period and then my parents took me to Phuket which is considered to be an area at risk from Malaria and thus required another 6 months. Once I had finally got over all of these hurdles, I was in Sheffield and promptly visited the central donor centre and have been going religiously every 4 months since then.

I don't really enjoy it, in fact the process is frankly horrible and my body really doesn't like bleeding apparently. The first five minutes, the nurses spend fiddling about with the needle trying to find the optimum position to get the blood out. The whole thing has to be done within a small time span - something around about fifteen minutes I think otherwise it cannot be used. I spend the rest of the time shivering and squeezing a ball of kitchen roll to help the blood run faster. Eventually the torment is over and I can have a nice hot drink and some biscuits before deciding that I'm now too weak to walk up the steep hill back home and that I am allowed to catch the bus.

I tried to convince my housemates to come with me last year and the excuses were:
"I need my blood"
"I'm scared of needles"
"I don't want to"
The last one of that list is frankly pathetic and the first one simply isn't true but a year later and I still haven't convinced them. I did manage to convince one co-habitant however and I've persuaded him to go twice now and he doesn't seem to mind it at all.

Had a brilliant reply to my second email to the letting agents and after sending it to everyone I have email addresses for in the company, I received a reply. A new vacuum cleaner is supposed to be arriving tomorrow - the current one apparently makes an horrendous noise and spits sparks everywhere (not good!). Also we have been booked in to get an aerial fitted so we can finally watch telly! It might not be until next week but at least they have agreed to fit one.

The eBay daily deals caught my eye again this morning and I am soon to be the proud owner of a DVD player with USB port and support for most movie types and the best bit, it was all of £20! I'm well chuffed because I have so far failed to connect my laptop to the TV and have been wanting to watch movies on the big screen for ages. I'm hoping it will arrive in the next couple of days then even if we have no aerial, the TV will be put to some use.