A busy day

Hey there

I've been on a course for work today at the NEC in Birmingham. It was so lovely to be out and about and the course was actually very informative and interesting. I don't think I felt myself drifting sleepily once all day- which is pretty much a miracle! The lectures were centred around the use of blood and blood components in emergency situations and major incidents.

The most interesting features were the lectures on how this was done during the London Bombings of 7th July 2005. It was heart wrenching to hear the accounts of 2 A&E nurse practioners who were involved in the management and care of hundreds of critically injured and how some others were just too bad to even consider the "wasting" of valuable resources and made as comfortable as possible.

There were also lectures on cell salvage where the patients' own blood can be collected, processed and re-transfused to minimalize the amount of donor blood given to them during massive haemorrhage. All told, it was amazing to see how much our National Blood Service really needs donors and to educate the masses on the correct use of blood products and reduce mistakes that cost lives.

I know this is a bit alien to some of you, but I guess despite my artistic nature, I have the flip side of being a scientist as well... strange but true. I did fit in a bit of knitting today though! I couldn't knit during lectures obviously- I was too busy taking notes- but I did a little bit on the train and during the lunch intermission. So what have I cast on now???

To the impatient (you know who you are!) who leave comments demanding their next fix of my blogging, I have started the Cloud Bolero which I chose to make after running a small competition to find a bolero/shrug pattern and Ruth send me the link for Ysolda's creation. I have hit the 'cast on' button for it on ravelry so my progress will be added to on there as well as on here. So far I've done the set up rows and 2 out of 3 pattern repeats for section A so it's a good start so far. I'll post pictures when it actually looks a bit better, the piece isn't really long enough yet to get a half decent shot of anything.

Ho hum, I ought to be going to bed since I have to do some work on the portfolio tomorrow at work and it's hard enough to understand w/o sleep deprivation!

Good Night x