Giving blood for the cause...

So what did I get up to last night? I had a nice easy lie down for 90 minutes on a bed in Glasgow. And why, I hear you ask? We all thought you were really busy?

Well, once a month I go up to the Blood Donor Centre in Glasgow to give platelets. Platelet donations are really important - unlike whole blood, they can only be stored for about a week, so the Blood Transfusion Service really need a regular supply. Platelets are used to treat a number of different illnesses and diseases - prematurely born babies often need a platelet boost, they are used to treat different types of cancer, and people with a condition called Haemophilia need platelets.

Platelets are the part of the blood that helps it clot and form a scab when you cut yourself. Without platelets, you would just bleed and bleed and bleed. So they are really important!

Not everyone can become a platelet donor - you have to be fit and healthy (so why they accepted me I have no idea!), aged at least 17, have a higher than average platelet count, have a particular type of blood group, and be prepared to commit to donating at least once per month. As a consequence of this, there are only about 1000 platelet donors in the whole of Scotland - so I feel quite proud! But perhaps there is a member of staff somewhere who could think about it - or one of the 6th years who will be studying in Glasgow next year?

Of course, far more people donate whole blood - which you can do three times a year from the age of 17 (come on, senior pupils - where are you?) - and you always get free tea, coffee, or juice, and a good selection of biccies (last night I had a Tunnock's Teacake, a taxi chocolate bar, and a packet of TUC cheesy biscuits). Whole blood donation is just as important as platelet donations - you might have seen the recent TV advert campaigns. So make a commitment to look at this after your 17th birthday - but remember, if you've had a piercing or a tattoo within the last year, that's you out for a while! I am informed that we recently had a talk from the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service on this, and last weekend 27 17 year olds gave blood in the Kilmarnock area when the mobile donation vehicle was here. Were any of them from KA? For more information, look at this website: http://www.scotblood.co.uk/

OK, I hear you ask - why is all this blood stuff on a School Librarian's blog? Well, the lie down I talked about earlier on is a great chance to catch up on reading - last night I got through some more of KM Grant's book "The Blue Flame" - because myself, Ms Fullerton & 20 eager S1 pupils are off to see her this afternoon at Stewarton Academy!

Keep in touch

SK

Lots of new books...

So what's new in the LRC? New books catalogued in February include:

• Sam Stern's Get Cooking - Apparently he's better looking than Jamie Oliver, and much younger!
• Lots of new Catherine MacPhail, Catherine Forde, Jasper Cooper and K.M. Grant books, to tie in with various author visits
• A whole range of graphic novels - Superman, X Men, Marvel Masters, Star Wars, Spiderman, and a new set of CSI related graphics
• Two new Terry Deary books (the guy who writes the Horrible Histories) - Flight of the Fire Thief & Fire Thief Strikes Back
• Two spooky Victorian crime books by Eleanor Updale - Montmorency & Montmorency on the Rocks - think Jekyll and Hyde with attitude!
• TWOC by Graham Joyce - highlighting what can happen if you start joyriding
• A new set of "Issues" resources - looking at current debates on subjects such as AIDS, Marriage and Cohabitation, Animal Rights, Bullying, Privacy and Human Rights

Ask me if you want to find any of these new books - or to place a reservation if someone's beaten you to it!

For those of you wondering why I'm still showing "Top Lends" for Dec / Jan - I've decided to run this as a two monthly feature, to get a better feel of which books are popular. So it will be next updated at the end of March (or whenever I get around to it!)

SK

Guess who's coming to dinner

Our garden in rural Darvel seems to be a haven for all types of wildlife. We've got a regular foxy night-time visitor - nicknamed "Domino", because he's always so well fed (think jazz musicians). The local hedgehog is very unimaginatively called "Spike". We quite often get grey squirrels on the bird-table - always known as "Nemo" or "Mrs Nemo" - our 2 year old insists, despite them not looking anything like clown fish. Once or twice we have seen a pheasant strutting his stuff - he is known as "Tommy" - after Tommy Cooper, who always wore a Fez!

There are plenty of fieldmice running around - too many to name - and a variety of cats. A rat appeared once, but because we don't like them we didn't give him a name, so he's never turned up again...


However, we had a real treat at about 11pm last night - one of our security lights came on, to reveal a badger snuffling about in our back yard. I've never seen a real live one before, only roadkill, so it was a real thrill. S/he only stayed for about 20 seconds before disappearing through the gate into next door's garden, leaving Barbara & myself saying to each other "Did we really just see that!?" Quite what food we put out for him (or her) I've no idea - I think their main food is worms, and I'm not going hunting for those!

Anyway, the badger has been named "40 quid" in the hope that we get return visits. (Yes, I know we have really strange names for our animals. In this case, think the cost of a Black and White TV licence).

Finally in this blog, a big shout out and massive up & nuf respect to my sister Hilary, down in sunny Norwich (or "Strawhead land", as we call it). Now because she's not so young and trendy as me (Quiet at the back! No sniggering!) she won't have an idea what that means. Anyway, with a new wean in the family - Katie Elizabeth, born last week - I think it's important that she tries to keep up with yoof kulture - and I think it's great that someone so young and good looking can admit to being a surrogate grandma. Well, at least I might get a good birthday present from her now!

SK