Simon has just launched an online store for his tshirts. For as long as I’ve known him, he has been putting his heart and soul into setting up the SINAGE Clothing brand, and the hard work really has paid off. It’s great to see these fantastic, original designs finally available to buy online.
Of course, if you’re in Brighton, you could always take a first hand look at his shirts - Si’s often got the SINAGE stall set up for business down on the beach by the old West Pier at the weekend (as long as the sun is shining!), so if you’re down that way, keep an eye out for them, and make sure you stop by to say hello!
There are 6 designs currently available, in a variety of colour combinations and sizes - check out the store for the full range - I’ve spent the last month trying to choose between the Crest (on blue) and Bleeding Heart (gold on black) designs, and am still completely torn, so unless someone can help me make my mind up I’m going to have to start saving those 10p’s again so I can get both!
One day, in about 1997, I happened to have quite a few 10p coins in my possession and it occured to me that it would be useful to keep some to one side. At the age of 15 they were the perfect currency for bus fares, calls from phone boxes, and various other things. When I couldn’t fit any more coins into the purse I originally consigned to keep them safe in one place, I cut a slot into the screwtop of an old 4.5L Glenfiddich bottle with my Swiss army knife, and just kept adding more coins.
With several of my friends earning their driving licences shortly after leaving school, and the rise in popularity of mobile phones (not to mention getting a job and having ‘real’ money always to hand), 10p coins no longer had any special value. But I’d still occasionally throw a couple of them into my jar, saving them for no real purpose other than a ‘rainy day’.
10 years on, I guess my rainy day has arrived. I’ve been saving up a bit of spare cash over the last few months, trying to get enough money together for something really special that I’ve got my heart set on… I just need a tiny little bit more, and I can’t bear to wait yet another month, so I’ve raided my jar!
I honestly thought I had a bit more in there, it doesn’t seem a lot for 10 years of saving, but it’s absolutely fine because £107 brings me up to almost the exact budget I’d set for my purchase.
I’m so excited!!
You’ll have to wait until another day to see what I’m buying, though.
I donated blood today.
I wish I’d got round to writing about this after one of the previous times I donated (this would be the fifth time I’ve done it) - but better late than never. The timing isn’t so bad actually, as I’ve just discovered a really good virtual tour on the National Blood Service website, which describes a typical session more accurately and in far more detail than I could have hoped to.
Go to blood.co.uk and click ‘What happens’ in the menu on the left; you’ll see a link at the bottom of the page to launch the virtual tour.
The only thing in the tour which I have to disagree with is the guide claiming that she hardly felt a thing when the needle was inserted. I don’t believe in lying to people about this sort of thing - it is a bit painful! I’d say it’s about on par with accidentally banging your knee on a table leg. It might cause you to flinch and use a bit of obscene language, but within a short time that pain will subside to mere discomfort, and the sensation will probably disappear entirely within about a minute. There might be a brief moment of further discomfort as the needle is removed at the end.
All in all, the level of pain is tolerable when you weigh it up against how good you feel leaving the session: proud to know you’re helping to save lives, and aiding important medical and scientific research.
The website includes details of your nearest session, so if you’ve thought about going before but never quite got round to it, please find time to go!! Drag a couple of friends along if you can, it’s more fun that way, and more much-needed donations.
If you still have a tiny shred of doubt about doing it, just imagine if you or a close one needed an emergency life-saving blood tranfusion, and there wasn’t enough donor blood available.
It’s got to come from somewhere, right?
There’s something a bit disconcerting about purchasing the very last chicken left on the supermarket shelf.
I guess it’s too late to worry now, I’ve bought it. All I can do is proceed as planned: stick a lemon up its bum and hope for the best. Wish me luck…