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Jan. 24th, 2008 09:05 pmThe bus no-showed after work this afternoon. At 3 pm, 22 minutes after it should have arrived, I phoned First Bus in Fareham. All I got was ringing tone. I gave up on the bus and began walking towards Southampton Road. Not long after I turned out of the Segensworth Road shortcut footpath a couple pulled up alongside me and the wife, who clearly worked at my office and knew me, offered me a lift to Stubbington.
As I was due to give blood at Portsmouth football ground at 5.10, there was no longer time to go back to Gosport and dump my bag before going across to Fratton, so I asked if they could drop me in Fareham town centre. They agreed. Halfway there, when I mentioned to them that I was going to Liverpool on Saturday, we ended up talking about the cup tie for the rest of the drive.
Had a nose round WH Smith's, called at Burger King for grub, and bought and posted a birthday card for Carrie, then wandered down to the station to get the train to Fratton. Desperately needed the loo by now, so visited the train's toilet once we got moving - and was subjected to repeated hammering on the door by a drunk woman, who actually shouted 'Tickets please' during her second onslaught.
I reached the football ground 20 minutes early. I had my letter and health-check form ready, but without even looking at them the lady on the reception table just told me to take a number and a Welcome folder (the info sheets you have to read before every donation) and sit until my number was called. I do think that those of us who had appointments should have been fast-tracked.
It was 10 minutes before my call came, then I was asked to book my appointment for my next donation in May and given a yellow card, saying I was number 36 in the yellow queue (people who'd made appointments). When I sat down, they were only calling number 24 - time to pull out my copy of The Big Issue again...
When I was at last called by a friendly lady called Anne for my preliminary health questions and pinprick blood test, she apologised for the delay and explained that they'd had so many drop-ins that they'd been behind schedule all day. Obviously expecting further delays before I actually got called to donate, she invited me to get a drink from the refreshment table while I waited.
In the end, I'd only taken a couple of sips of my coffee when my call came. Jo, my carer, remembered me from previous donations at Gosport and asked why I'd come to Fratton this time, so I explained how I'd been booked to give at Gosport on the 3rd but been struck down by a cold. There was a hold-up because one of the T-shirts I was wearing under my jumper was judged too tight so I was sent to the loo to remove it (Jo clearly felt the donors and carers weren't ready for my bared torso; to be honest, she had a point, especially after a month of guzzling Christmas goodies). After that my donation went without a hitch - and my coffee was still there, and not yet cold, when I returned to the refreshment table :)
Just seen the 1994 Christmas Top of the Pops on BBC4. (Hope you were watching,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ah_1985!) Interesting to see Take That, who were then at their zenith, hosting the show, especially given their current revival. '94 really was a wonderful year for music and I was glad to see Wet Wet Wet performing Love Is All Around live in the studio - that song has special memories for me, and reminds me of the many days that year I spent hanging around London's West End with Carrie (funny how I sent her a birthday card just a few hours before). It was also nice to see a few of my favourites from that year I hadn't heard for a while, like Without You from the gorgeous Mariah Carey, and Saturday Night from Whigfield looking stunning in her red dress, though only clips were shown of many of them like Ace of Base's The Sign and Michelle Gayle's Sweetness. A highlight was seeing Sheryl Crow as she then was, at the beginning of her fame, singing All I Wanna Do (I became a Sheryl fan from first hearing of that back in '94) though again we only got a clip. While the major event of my 1994 was a painful break-up, funnily enough I hardly thought about that during the show - except during Pato Banton singing Baby Come Back, as that record is inextricably linked in my mind with the young lady concerned. (Still love the song though.)
As I was due to give blood at Portsmouth football ground at 5.10, there was no longer time to go back to Gosport and dump my bag before going across to Fratton, so I asked if they could drop me in Fareham town centre. They agreed. Halfway there, when I mentioned to them that I was going to Liverpool on Saturday, we ended up talking about the cup tie for the rest of the drive.
Had a nose round WH Smith's, called at Burger King for grub, and bought and posted a birthday card for Carrie, then wandered down to the station to get the train to Fratton. Desperately needed the loo by now, so visited the train's toilet once we got moving - and was subjected to repeated hammering on the door by a drunk woman, who actually shouted 'Tickets please' during her second onslaught.
I reached the football ground 20 minutes early. I had my letter and health-check form ready, but without even looking at them the lady on the reception table just told me to take a number and a Welcome folder (the info sheets you have to read before every donation) and sit until my number was called. I do think that those of us who had appointments should have been fast-tracked.
It was 10 minutes before my call came, then I was asked to book my appointment for my next donation in May and given a yellow card, saying I was number 36 in the yellow queue (people who'd made appointments). When I sat down, they were only calling number 24 - time to pull out my copy of The Big Issue again...
When I was at last called by a friendly lady called Anne for my preliminary health questions and pinprick blood test, she apologised for the delay and explained that they'd had so many drop-ins that they'd been behind schedule all day. Obviously expecting further delays before I actually got called to donate, she invited me to get a drink from the refreshment table while I waited.
In the end, I'd only taken a couple of sips of my coffee when my call came. Jo, my carer, remembered me from previous donations at Gosport and asked why I'd come to Fratton this time, so I explained how I'd been booked to give at Gosport on the 3rd but been struck down by a cold. There was a hold-up because one of the T-shirts I was wearing under my jumper was judged too tight so I was sent to the loo to remove it (Jo clearly felt the donors and carers weren't ready for my bared torso; to be honest, she had a point, especially after a month of guzzling Christmas goodies). After that my donation went without a hitch - and my coffee was still there, and not yet cold, when I returned to the refreshment table :)
Just seen the 1994 Christmas Top of the Pops on BBC4. (Hope you were watching,
ah_1985!) Interesting to see Take That, who were then at their zenith, hosting the show, especially given their current revival. '94 really was a wonderful year for music and I was glad to see Wet Wet Wet performing Love Is All Around live in the studio - that song has special memories for me, and reminds me of the many days that year I spent hanging around London's West End with Carrie (funny how I sent her a birthday card just a few hours before). It was also nice to see a few of my favourites from that year I hadn't heard for a while, like Without You from the gorgeous Mariah Carey, and Saturday Night from Whigfield looking stunning in her red dress, though only clips were shown of many of them like Ace of Base's The Sign and Michelle Gayle's Sweetness. A highlight was seeing Sheryl Crow as she then was, at the beginning of her fame, singing All I Wanna Do (I became a Sheryl fan from first hearing of that back in '94) though again we only got a clip. While the major event of my 1994 was a painful break-up, funnily enough I hardly thought about that during the show - except during Pato Banton singing Baby Come Back, as that record is inextricably linked in my mind with the young lady concerned. (Still love the song though.)
