GIVE BLOOD

It has been a reasonably quiet time this past week in OK Falls. I went and watched Cameo play soccer on Friday night and Saturday morning. Her team went down 3-0 on Friday, although that score-line should have been reversed. On Saturday it was a 1-1 draw. It was a gutsy effort from the Pinnacles team as they had just one reserve for half the match and after an injury they had no reserves to call upon. It was a hot day so it was a great effort.


Cameo had a distinguished game as she got hit squarely in the face by a ball driven from just a short distance away. Instead of doing what most girls on the team would do in going to ground with copious tears she just shook her head and grinned. She later scored the first goal of her career and then got into an altercation with a bruiser on the other team. All in all a great game!


Sunday was a trip to Omak, Washington for groceries. This time we pushed two shopping buggies around which was a mistake as we doubled up on a lot of goods. The final cost at the checkout was a tad over $500. Costly but we probably saved around $80-90.


We had no problems crossing the border either way just the standard questions. “Where are you going, “why are you going there,” how long will you be there,” and “do you have any alcohol or cigarettes.” All standard questions and the border guard takes just a quick look into the vehicle and we are on our way.
For a Canadian experience of a different sort I decided to give blood today. This is something I have done regularly in Australia for some time and I am up to around 120 donations.


The blood donation point was at the Penticton Senior Citizens Drop-In Centre. The blood donation team had driven down from Kelowna earlier in the day. Whereas in Australia they use semi-trailers for their mobile donations here in Canada they set up and pull down each day which is a lot of extra work.


The set up is basically the same you go through reception and give some brief information and get a number. You sit and wait to you are called and have to give more information and have a basic blood test by way of a prick on the finger and a small sample of blood. As this was my first Canadian donation I had to provide all of my details and this took a little while as the Canadian lady had trouble with my accent.


When this completed you go and wait in another area until called up to answer more questions. These are similar to the questions asked by the blood bank in Australia, the main difference being geography, have you been to Central or south America recently and have you had contact with monkey’s or monkey fluids. I don’t know about you but I don’t associate with monkeys on a regular basis, well not of the ape variety anyway. Apparently monkey’s have some bad stuff floating around inside them which can contaminate the blood donation.

Next stop is the donation. After a few more questions you are ready for the needle which is administered by a Registered Nurse. In no time at all you are done and sitting at a table having some refreshments.


Overall the experience is very similar to Australia. The biggest difference is the food you get afterwards. In Canada you get some packaged juices and packaged biscuits. Whereas in Australia you have a wide variety of drinks, cheese and biscuits, sweet biscuits and lots of chocolates and other treats. Why do you think that I give blood!