Having realised that I'm well outside the safe minimum time since taking antibiotics, I went along to see if the blood transfusion people wanted me to give blood this evening and found, as I'd half-expected, that they are turning away anyone who hasn't got an appointment since they are pretty much snowed under, including a lot of first-time donors who need extra hand-holding and (occasionally) faint on them etc.
However, the way these things usually work is that there's a big surge in donations immediately after a disaster then a shortfall two weeks to a month later, so the optimum time to go along is probably in a week or two - or leave it for a month or so since they really need a steady supply.
I'm in central London, and things may be different elsewhere, but I'll be surprised if there isn't a similar pattern at all of the donation centres.
