72. Give blood.
18 September 2006: I went along, and gave blood, and everything went well. So this is now done, though I have some ongoing intentions -- to keep going every four months when they ask, and to help them by telling them about cheaper halls available in Walthamstow, because they're apparently paying £1000 a time to use the Assembly Hall.
23 August 2006 I'm booked into the session on 18 September.
1 August 2006 I gave blood years ago from time to time, but the last couple of times I tried (more than 10 years ago) I became sick and had to stop. Nevertheless, I think it's probably sensible to try again, or at least talk to the helpline about it. There's a session on Thursday afternoon! Which would be great except that I'll just have had dental treatment. I'll ring the helpline on 0845 7 711 711; it's 24 hours, and ask them about the dental deep cleaning & how long I have to wait, and mention about getting sick when doing it ten years ago. This is linked to joining the bone marrow register -- my guess is that if I don't give blood I am unlikely to be able to do that either.
1 August 2006: I rang the helpline, who registered me (woo), said that the sickness was very likely to be due to failing to eat and drink properly before the session, particularly failing to keep fluids up, and that I should probably delay the donation until a week after my course of dental work is treated. They're sending me a welcome pack.