Give and Take

I first gave blood on 9 June 1959 at my workplace in London: Iliffe Press. I was 21.

In 2012 I received a letter thanking me for my 75th donation of blood. I was 75.

Women tend to donate less than men as they have to take time out over pregnancies.

There are also things which may prevent donations such as trips abroad to some specified destinations or having recent tattoos.

So I was pleased to have got to that quantity and the following year I was invited to a Presentation of Donor Awards and Luncheon at which I received a handsome glass award marking those 75 donations.

Then in 2020 I was signed off. I do have the award and am a Jade card holder.

I enjoyed the donor sessions. Everyone was always so welcoming and they upgraded to such comfortable chairs it was not hard to imagine oneself on a sun lounger somewhere pleasant. Perhaps they should play gentle wave music.

The refreshments come afterwards with tea, coffee and soft drinks and biscuits.

The resting after donating is important. I remember at the first session I attended a burly man from the packaging department said he needed no cup of tea, stood up and started to stride out – and collapsed. The only harm was to his dignity.

Towards the end of my donations I found it more difficult to make an appointment for the next session for instead of doing it over my tea I was told to do it online. I kept forgetting.

I suspect a lot of others did likewise. And still do unless the National Blood Transfusion Service has reverted to the old, tried, and successful method.

I was, therefore, pleased to accept a blood transfusion last week – lots of giving, now some taking.

I took about half-a-pint, which took about three hours to go in and, as my daughter, waiting for me – and trying to “work from home” in the corridor facing me – pointed out, it only takes 10 minutes to donate blood, possibly longer from the time of arrival to the last biscuit crumb.

Both my elder daughters are donors. The youngest, alas, can no longer donate as she is currently forbidden to donate in the Netherlands – they are still worried that the Brits are riddled with BSE, I think.

That's Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: not Bombay Stock Exchange but what we call Mad Cow Disease.

One of my daughters has also signed on for platelet donation. Evidently some 70% of platelet donations go to help cancer sufferers: she had signed up well before we knew I was such a person.

I am very lucky: according to Cancer Research there are around 10,300 new cases of bladder cancer in the UK every year and often symptoms don't present themselves until the disease has progressed. So if you have the slightest worry check with your GP.

The reason for my transfusion is down to my receiving chemotherapy. I had previously thought of transfusions needed in the case of horrific accidents, or any other occasion for there being a substantial blood loss.

In my case it was a lack of my little red cells, to misquote Hercule Poirot. They were just not doing the business, which can be due to treatment such as the chemotherapy which I am currently receiving.

It made a change to sit there, comfortably, and watch blood dripping down the tube and into my arm – just days after Halloween!

When receiving chemo it is colourless and may only be observed by looking for it to drip from the bag into the tube.

Come to think of it, perhaps the slowing down of my little red cells has something to do with my tiredness: Poirot would understand.

Hilton Hotel Open

If that means an end to all those roadworks, and wallworks, in the area, then hurrah!

The pictures in the last two issues of this paper make it look good, and I am particularly interested in the views from the windows.

I am reminded of what my father used to say about the old Hungerford Bridge in London – not a thing of great architectural beauty, but the views from it, of Waterloo Bridge and the city downstream, were worthy of Wordsworth and his words “Dull would he be of soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its majesty”.

Admittedly he was writing his ode on Westminster Bridge, and back in 1802, so things looked a tad different then.

But I am suggesting the views from the new hotel are better than the view of it. But that is because it has become just another of The Towers of Woking.

At least this one you can go into and have a drink whilst drinking in the view.

The Hilton makes much of the view from the Sky Bar naming cocktails for images to be seen from that lofty position: Mist on the Horizon; Chimney Smoke: The Surrey Garden; Rain; The Fairoak – OK, so you can't see Fairoaks airfield from the Loft but at least it is mentioned. And I guess that The Loft can be seen from the airfield.

I do have one complaint: the management did not see fit to invite me to the opening!

Sometimes They Listen

Readers may remember that I recently commented on the dangerous flooding of Woodham Road where it nears the Six Crossroads. I duly mentioned it to a local councillor who duly mentioned it to One Who Would Know. Here is the result:

“Flooding (Carriageway and Footway)

Location: Woodham Road Woking

In heavy or persistent rains some drains cannot cope and may take time to drain all the water from a specific area. In such cases there is little the Highways Authority can do to help with the situation.

Sites that are reported to us are also prioritised in regards to safety and immediate internal property flood by an officer and extra resources will only be allocated if it has been judged to be of high priority.

This in no way means other areas are not important to us but resources have to be used where there is need for it most.

In this instance the area will be placed on a list so further investigation can be carried out as there may be a problem, the time-scale for these works are not known.

Sign up to Your Highways Update to stay up to date with highways information for your local area.

Kind regards,

Vincent Lovegrove

Highways Maintenance Engineer

Contact us: If you need to get in contact with us again about this enquiry, please email [email protected] quoting reference number: 183745.”

I give you the complete reply should any of you wish to follow it up. There are drains on that stretch of road, the letterbox type, and as there is common land on either side they do collect leaves, and as the site is regularly flooded in times of heavy rain they also collect silt and other debris.

One wonders, well, this one wonders, whether it would not be better to do away with them and dig runaways into the woods on either side.

Just a thought, but coming into that stretch of road off the well-lit roundabout into darkness and finding water right across the “carriageway and footway” can be dangerous.

Aquaplaning can take place with speeds as low as 40mph so I think this stretch of road should be “prioritised in regards to safety".

Early Closing?

Last week I had occasion to go into Woking. By foot. One reason being to visit a specific shop. The other reason being to forestall my family's nagging me to take a walk lasting at least one quarter of an hour each day.

My slog into Woking took about four times that but then I was going into shops, and pausing on some of the seating which is now around the town centre.

I don't suppose the supply of seating has anything to do with my nagging on this page over the years but I like to think it does.

I was pleased to see the sign for a defibrillator lit up and obvious outside Foundations, and opposite Leaders, in Commercial Way at The Slug and Lettuce end.

But approached from the west end it is just an advertising board.

Imagine telling someone the defibrillator is at the east end and they could pass it by and not notice it.

I was shocked on my trek into Woking to see the number of shuttered shops. I walked down High Street.

That name makes one presume it to be an important street with plentiful shops. Now so many are shuttered.

It so happened that I had looked out some old street directories to answer some questions – the name of a previous landlord at The Plough in Horsell, and a previous owner of friend's house in York Road.

Thus I could easily check on what those shops had once been: bank, chemist, solicitors, drapers, house furnishers – china and glass dealers, wines and spirits, tailors, electrical and radio specialists, estate agents (x 2), butcher, radio shop, wool shop, carpet company, outfitters, Sainsbury's, tobacconist, hairdresser, ladies' fashions, fruiterers (x2), coffee blenders, paints etc, camping equipment, outfitters and others – according to the 1964 Directory.

Now the only reminder of the old days is that splendid mural on the side of the railway depicting long gone shops.

Where have all the independent shops gone? Without specialist shops there is no reason to visit Woking with its car park charges when one can visit an out-of-town shopping centre and park free.

Woking is not the only cash strapped council and I hear that many councils are putting up car park charges – putting them up excessively.

Wolverhampton had raised the fees from £4.50 to £9 per day. Places previously charging 40p for an hour are now charging £2.

It might be a “just for a single item, won't be long” but there may be a queue, or problem with the till and bang goes the hour.

Thus, surely, killing the goose which laid the golden eggs of retail success.

Some will say walk or cycle. Yes – and balance the shopping on the handlebars? Where's Health and Safety when you really need it/them?

Public transport? Yes, but where is it, and it never seems to go where it is most needed: in the town centre. Anyway, you have to get to and from the bus stop.

Bustler? Ideal but it, too, is becoming strapped for funds.

Independent shops are vital. I remember interviewing John Rhys-Davies, who was playing at the New Victoria pantomime.

He asked me about that splendid old book and map shop.

Alas, I had to tell him that the shop, once in Goldsworth Road, had closed.

New figures show that shoplifting in Surrey rose by 53% in just 12 months. The stark figures from the ONS show the highest level of recorded shoplifting in Surrey since 2015.

Perhaps Woking council has found the final solution – do away with shops.