Yesterday, I donated blood. I know I've said it before, but donating blood is a truly rewarding experience (self-satisfaction is right up there, free milkshakes, free food, trashy reading material, and you save three lives!). For those of us who have time (rather than money) it's the closest we'll come to philanthropy.
Anyway, so I turn up and I get talking to this nurse.
NURSE: So what are you working on then?
SELF SATISFIED BLOOD DONATING PHILANTHROPIST: We're developing a kids' TV show at the moment. [YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE SAYING THIS BTW]
NURSE: Oh great. Kids' TV is great.
SSBDP: You think so?
NURSE: Oh yes, when I was a kid, I used to love....
.... Now, at this point, the person usually says: Degrassi Junior High, Inspector Gadget, Punky Brewster or (if they're five years younger than I am) You Can't Do That On Television or Round The Twist...
NURSE: a British show, you might not have heard of it, it was called Press Gang.
SSBDP: Might not have heard of it? That is still among my top ten favourite shows ever made!
NURSE: Oh really? Yeah. I loved it so much that I made my mum ring up the ABC and they gave her the number of the BBC and so she called the BBC and I sent them a fan letter.
SSBDP: *Respectful silence*
NURSE: It was great actually, they sent me a signed photograph of the whole cast and I got one each from Lynda and Spike. Remember them?
REMEMBER THEM? I have the entire series on DVD and I have a backup series for when someone's borrowing the boxed set with the extras DVD!
REMEMBER THEM? I studied them! YOU HAVE A SIGNED PHOTO OF THE WHOLE CAST? YOU HAVE AN INDIVIDUAL PORTRAIT OF LYNDA AND SPIKE WITH SIGNATURES????
It was all I could do not to send my blood pressure so high with excitement that I couldn't donate.
Honestly, one of the biggest dilemmas of my TV watching teenagehood was who I was in love with more: Lynda or Spike? I still can't decide.
The nurse's favourite episode was the one where she blamed herself for the suicide and the double episode with the clown. Both classic episodes and favoured among fans (myself included) although I really enjoyed the episode where Lynda had the hiccups and the one where Colin crashed a funeral dressed as a rabbit. Each to their own.
Anyway, there's another reason to donate blood. I wonder if brain surgeons go in and she says "Oh I love brain surgery. What's your favourite bit of the brain? I think mine's the frontal lobe".
I wonder if blood is more useful if it's pleased.
PS to donate blood, go to www.donateblood.com.au