When you are finished with that…

Something has been occupying my thoughts of late. It seems to be following me about, as wherever I turn I seem to either read about it, watch something about it or talk to someone about it. Do you ever find that happens from time to time?

The subject is organ donation, and it was first triggered in my mind after watching a short news story about how the Welsh Minister for Heath and Social Services is attempting to make organ donation after death an opt-out system instead of the opt-in one it currently is. When I watched this, I found myself in total agreement. I would love to know that when I die, if someone else could be helped out by it in some way (however small) that would be great. Also, it’s not like it’s really putting me out, after all, I’d be dead – so I would not really have to DO anything anyway. But, up until very recently, I have not been on the Donor List. So if I died, It could be very possible that my body would go to waste, so to speak.

I was a little ashamed of the fact that something I so strongly agreed with was not something I was signed up for, that I was in fact one of the statistics that had NOT put their name down on the list. Now, this is not because I don’t care, or I could not be bothered. It’s more because I’ve been pretty busy in my life to date and have had a lot of things swimming around in my head (as we all do), and to be honest, organ donation has not been one of them (and I’m sure I’m not the only one)…not until it seemed to start popping up so frequently.

So this blog is making use of one of the wonderful aspects of the internet. It’s a powerful tool where you can tell all of your friends about a subject in exactly the way you want to, instead of trying to bring it up in conversation…and lets be honest, organ donation is not usually a hot topic for most people over a pint.

So, my message is:

If you, like me, have no real religious or personal beliefs that are going to stop you, and you don’t mind the idea of your body being looted for spare parts after you are gone, please (if you have not already) put your name on the list and sign up as an organ donor.

I realise that there are a lot of people out there who don’t like the idea of it, and sometimes talking about our own mortality can be an uncomfortable subject. So it’s not for everyone. But, put it this way: If tomorrow you got hit by a car and were rushed to hospital and found to be in need of some type of transplant…how many of you would say no? I know that I wouldn’t. So it could be said, if you are willing to be aided by it, you should also be prepared to help if you found yourself dead but with a good and usual body. I have been thinking, and I don’t mean this to come out as cheesy as it probably will, but I’ll say it anyway: Your best gift to anyone in the world and the best thing you may ever do could be in your willingness to help someone after your death.

So, if like me, you agree with organ donation but up until now have not been reminded about it, or been given enough prompts to think about it, consider this one of them. Hopefully it will be enough.

If you have a few moments spare, visit this link and fill out a short form:

http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/default.jsp

Sorry for the rather heavy subject matter, however I feel it to be important and a feel rather ashamed to have only just cottoned on. Knowing my luck I bet everyone reading this is already on the list and I have just succeeded in advertising the fact it’s taken me so long! But seriously, if one of you is not and if it gets one of you thinking, then it’s worth it.

Thanks for reading.

I hope everyone had a good New Year x

Oink Oink.

I decided to phone the doctors about an hour ago as I am still feeling pretty dodgy. Guess what? They think I have Swine Flu and I’m now on a course of Tamiflu anti-viral drugs and can’t leave the house for 5 days. Maybe it serves me right after my last post? Gosh, don’t I feel silly.

Flu.

I’m still figuring out what I’m going to write about on my Blog. I know I’d rather not use it to update people on what I’m up to – for some reason I already do that on Facebook and the like. So don’t worry, if anyone IS reading this, it hopefully won’t descend into some sort of online diary…not unless I really lack inspiration. But if it does, please tell me and I will sort it out.

At this time in my life I seem to spend a large amount of my time waiting. This is not because I’m lazy, and it’s not because I really enjoy waiting…but I often find myself either sitting in the back of a van for hours, or waiting around in empty venues etc. etc. – that coupled with the fact I seem to lie awake in bed for a fair while before getting to sleep these days. All this waiting gives me a lot of time to think about things, so I thought I might write them down. Someone out there might find them interesting or, god forbid, thought provoking. Or a few people might disagree with everything I say…and I think I’d quite enjoy that. Nothing like a good well rounded argument.

At this time I am waiting around due to illness, so I can do little more than complain, lie down and watch shit daytime television – which has put a bit of a dampener on the start of my week. This is somewhat ironic considering what I’m just about to tell you about:

A week ago I was sitting a on tube train heading somewhere in London, when 10 Italians got on the train and sat around me. Now, this in itself is not that strange, but what was quite odd is that they were all wearing surgical masks and frantically washing themselves with anti-bacterial hand wash. It was quite a strange sight, and I was not the only person who found this odd. As when I looked up, everyone who was not wearing a mask was staring at them. Now, a few things ran through my head while trying not to laugh. First of them was that these people obviously think they know something we don’t, secondly…was that thing some type of chemical disaster?…and if it was, maybe they should spread the word a bit so we can all be saved too. But lastly, it was about what these 10 visitors to our country have been told (and before anyone says anything, I can be pretty certain they were visitors, as they were all clutching Lonely Planet guides and cameras). Now, I might be wrong in thinking this way. Maybe they were very sensitive people who constantly need to wear masks wherever they go. Or maybe they are big Michael Jackson fans. But I think it’s got more to do with what people are told when traveling to Britain.

Earlier this year I had a the good fortune to spend a month traveling around Europe on tour with my band. Now, in this time I got to travel to many countries I had never been to before and meet loads of people. What often occurred to me when chatting to these people was how Britain seems to be perceived by many.

I only have any experience of being British when abroad, so it’s hard to know if I am right. But it seems that a lot of people take a real interest in the UK. Many of the people I spoke to had either visited the UK many times or it was the top of their list of places to go. I can understand why too. I’m not a very patriotic or nationalistic person, but I think Great Britain is an interesting place with a huge amount of history and lots to see and do – plus it’s all relatively close together. Bar the weather and and our fairly useless public transport system, it’s a good place. However, quite a few people I have spoken to who want to visit seem to be worried about what they are going to catch while over here, and some people had been told not to visit by parents and loved ones for this very reason. I think that is the reason the Italians were wearing masks.

It must be that most of the European press about visiting the UK is about how we are all carrying some type of disease and that we are the heart of some huge pandemic – yet I know no one who has suffered from any of it (bar Swine Flu, and I know a few – but it seems if you complain of a headache and a runny nose they say you have it – l’m a little dubious). Over the past few years we have had the human version of Foot & Mouth, Bird Flu, Swine Flu and SARS (remember that?)…and there are probably more. SARS was going to wipe us all out at one point, and those who were not killed by that were going to be finished off by bird flu. None of this happened. Now, I’m not saying that these things are lies, as people have died from them…but the amount of fear that was put over to the public was incredible. Surely that was not needed? Mass panic is never a good idea when we are all facing dead by some horrible microbe. We get freaked out enough by a petrol drought.

So what were all the big scare tactics about? I can’t help but wonder about the next big news story that is just to break – might be front page…then in comes a pandemic to divert all our attentions…and it gets pushed back to page 5 or 6 – maybe I am a bit too skeptical? Hmmmm.

I am currently ill though, so maybe those Italians have got the right idea after all.

I think I might go and read 1984 now, I feel in the mood. Then I’m going to go into business making anti-bacterial hand wash, I think I could make a fortune. I bet Cussons can’t wait for the next pandemic scare.

Blogger.

Hi all, welcome to my Blog.

So, I suppose I can now be known as a ‘Blogger’ – which could be fun. I’m not really sure what I’m going to write about, and I’m even less sure if anyone is going to read it. However I quite enjoy writing things down, so I thought I’d give this blogging thing a go.

So here’s to it…lets see what I come up with.