Thursday, 24 November 2022

The pleasures of giving blood

Today was really rushed, with a thousand small-yet-important errands and tasks jostling my brain, and on top of everything else, I had made an appointment to give blood. 

However, once there, my hectic day slowed right down – the first task was to have a long, cool drink of squash while glancing at a list of activities to avoid in case they made you faint.  After filling in a form with a smug long list of ‘No’s (no intravenous drug use, recent tattoos, sex with intravenous drug users), I was settled into a reclining seat and a line attached to my arm, tethering me to the spot.

Whatever tasks beckoned, I could now do none of them.  Hits of the eighties played gently, and I scrolled casually through the book I am reading on my phone.  Apart from remembering to squeeze my fist, I was relieved of all duties for a number of precious minutes.  It was not unlike being at the hairdressers, although without the glossy mags.

And afterwards, I was commanded to sit still for a bit and have another lovely drink of squash and a cheering bag of crisps. 

The only thing that nearly ruined this period of me-time was when I saw that the snack selected by the woman next to me was a delicious chocolatey waggon-wheel. 

‘Nobody told me there were waggon-wheels!’ I wanted to shout. 

However, I took a deep breath and resumed my calmness.  After all, I wouldn’t want to faint, would I? 


1 comment:

  1. you're not limited to just one snack item... you could have had a Waggon Wheel

    ReplyDelete