Tuesday December 20, 2005

At last a seond pint is donated

After a false start when the mobile lorry came to our campus and I could not donate having recently had an infection I finally got to donate my second pint of blood. I had to go to the local village hall which was full of people beds and staff extracting the red stuff by the bucketfull. It was as painless as last time and also as Chris told me the first time you give blood you can be wobbly afterwards but the second and subsequent times as long as you are careful there are no aftershocks. The staff were brilliant the lady who popped the needle in called me a bonny lad which was very nice. The National Blood service try and build stocks up over this time of year so if you can, do give them a ring and donate over the holiday period. The number to call is 0845 7 711 711.Do something wonderful and give an extra Xmas present this year. It will not cost you a penny.

Drinking and not driving

A couple of things happened to remind me of an event many many years ago. I have always held the opinion that drinking any amount of alcohol and driving are mutally exclusive. But many years ago I was a hypocrite. Although I would not drive after drinking I would allow myself to be driven by someone who had and was most likely over the limit....

So in a company many many years ago where the tradition was to go out drinking at lunchtimes and then drive something happened one afternoon that is still a sobering thought many years later. I am not proud of any of this and only tell it in the hope it might change the behaviour of one person. We had been out drinking, having had a least as much as four pints per person. We were then in a transport cafe having tea and something to eat. I never found out why but the police came into the cafe. Asked who was driving the two brightly coloured vans in the car park. The two drivers of our foursome were breathalysed and failed the test. We were all bundled into a police van and taken to the nearby station. Things are a bit unclear now but we were locked in cells in pairs. I had an idea that running on the spot would burn off the alcohol. We tried to speak to our friends through the walls. I had to go to the toilet, I was taken to the gents and remember to this day standing in a inch deep puddle of urine relieving myself. Eventually we were all to be retested. Two of us ( including me) passed. We all had to make statements. We were advised what to say. The two people that passed the test had decided they were going to drive as the other two were over the limit etc etc.

In reflection the police knew that in our company there was this issue with drink driving. They did not want to go through the bother of arresting us. I think they thought a bigger impact would be the word going around about our internment etc etc that afternoon. It certainly changed the habits four of us.

So what reminded me of this?

While driving through a village a few weekends ago I was stopped by a policewoman. She caught me doing 33 MPH in a 30MPH area. I wound down my window and she said she was not interested in me breaking the limit by three MPH. It was a tool to allow her to check my alcohol level. She tested me and I came out fine ( as I expected)

The second thing that reminded me of this event is that fact that a survey showed the despite the usual campaigns people are still happy to drink and drive despite the consequences to others. Things are better than years ago attitudes have changed. I don't have the answers but believe me that afternoon in a cell hardened my already firm belief in the fact drinking and driving do not mix. Also consider how you could face the rest living the rest of your life having killed or maimed somebody...