 Brilliant's Audio presents Nine Pints, A Journey Through the Money, Medicine and Mysteries of Blood, by Rose George, performed by Karen Cass. My pint. There is a TV, but I watch my blood. It travels from a needle stuck in the crook of my right elbow, the arm with better veins, into a tube, down into the clear bag that is being hugged by a cradle that rocks then jerks, agitating its contents, stopping the clotting. Rock and wiggle. Rock then wiggle. I'm giving away almost a pint, and it feels like it always does, soothing and calming. I watch the bag fill with this red rich liquid, which amounts to 13% of my blood supply. I'm comforted to know that nine pints, eight now of this stuff, is moving around my body at any time at two to three miles per hour, taking oxygen to my organs and tissues, removing carbon dioxide, keeping my heart going, keeping me going. People have different rates of flow, so the machine beeps with alarm when the output is too low. Today, mine has been acceptable. Once my veins were judged too small, and I was turned away by the National Health Service, Blood and Transplant, NHSBT, and I was insulted, as if the rejection were moral, not medical. For a material that has been studied for thousands of years, blood still manages to run from rationality, even at walking pace. Donating doesn't take long. I'm done in ten minutes. Female, apos, time bled, 11am. Now I'm due to get thanked. Gratitude is the main theme here. The Wi-Fi password is THANK YOU. This is the main donor centre in Leeds, my hometown, and a city of three-quarters of a million people. A bright, well-staffed place on one of the biggest shopping streets. Over the road at Red Hot Restaurant, you can buy all you can eat from any cuisine in the world, all at once. One hundred dishes. Here you can lie back and do not much, though clenching your buttocks helps keep your blood moving and help three people all at once. Give blood. And your donation can be separated by NHSBT, the public health agency that operates blood and organ transplant in England and Wales, into several life-saving, life-enhancing gifts. By GIFTS, they mean components such as red blood cells, platelets, plasma, and other use- Sample complete. Ready to continue?