u/No_Nuns_No_Nuns_None

We went yesterday (Friday 9th).

We normally go midweek when it's quiet. It's good because it's quiet enough to get everything done, but we never enjoy the race against time with the meagre opening hours, and the fact that not everything is open when it's quiet (we've been a few times when there's no monorail, no sky ride, and most of the food options are closed). So we thought we'd change it up and come for Scarefest.

I have to say it really made me miss the days when Alton Towers was open for longer! I have memories as a kid/teen of not only getting on all the rides, but also having time to play arcade games, stop for lunch, walk around the gardens and generally enjoy a fully rounded day more! These days it feels more like a military operation!

The queues were obviously longer, but we decided we were more focused on soaking up the atmosphere for this visit rather than ticking off all the rides. We were going to save most of the rides for when it got dark, to experience the difference in riding at nighttime. We didn't join any queue that was longer than 25 minutes and still managed Nemesis, Oblivion, Smiler, Th13teen, Spinball, Galactica, Hex, Curse and Marauders Mayhem (haven't been on that one in about a decade because there's never time to even consider the smaller rides, so that was nice!).

We got face paints done (not the best, but we just wanted to do something different) watched a couple of the shows and generally took our time exploring, it was a welcome change!

The only thing that really spoilt it a mishap with Th13teen. I'd been going on to my friends about how great it is to ride in the dark, so it was the main reason we came to Scarefest.

We timed it perfectly - joined the queue with the last bit of daylight fading and by the time we got to the front of the queue it was pitch black. Great! We got loaded on to the train, all ready to go. Then it broke. It broke and they couldn't get us out of the train until the engineers got there.

So now the relaxed approach to the day was gone, with us being trapped on Th13teen with closing time looming and still a handful of rides we wanted to do in the dark.

Eventually we were freed and the ride operator told us she would radio ahead to Smiler to tell them to let us through the Fast Track as compensation, just give her name to the queue attendant there.

So we legged it over to The Smiler and the queue attendant said no! They weren't letting anyone through who'd been trapped on Th13teen and the attendant shouldn't have offered us fast track! We were fuming as we were going to save Smiler til last (60min queue) and join the queue just before 9, which would've allowed us enough time to do every ride in Forbidden Valley plus the Mine Train before that, but the fast track offer made us trek across the park! No time to trek back again so we joined The Smiler main queue. It ended up taking 30 mins instead of the advertised 60 (thank god!) so we speed walked back to Forbidden Valley and did Nemesis and Galactica just before closing.

The only rides we wanted to do but didn't were Runaway Mine Train and Wickerman. So not bad, but frustrating as if it hadn't have been for the Th13teen incident and the Fast Track lie, we probably would've been able to do those too.

So overall it was a great day, it's just a shame one incident put a spanner in the works at the end! And I really miss the longer opening hours!

I know it's a very studenty city! I've found a few places that would be good for a cocktail or two, but is there anywhere that plays more old school music for millennials to have a dance??

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi everyone,

I'm a freelancer working in theatre. Most of my contracts are PAYE, but occasionally I'll have a job on a self employed basis, but this is very rare and usually earns me less than £1000 in a year.

I still do my tax returns even when I've had no self employed work, because my PAYE jobs incur a lot of expenses that I need to claim back (accommodation and travel).

I'm considering doing some online work to bridge the gaps between my theatre jobs. My friend has put me on to an American company which pays you hourly, in dollars, to analyse data online.

Hes a digital nomad without a base so doesn't worry about any tax issues with it (whether he's right or wrong there, I'm staying out of that!) but I would like to make sure I declare it properly and don't run into any issues.

I believe they pay via PayPal and I don't need to invoice them. I log into their system, it tracks my hours, then they pay me.

How would I go about declaring this income on a tax return? Is there a section for work from foreign businesses in other currencies?

I don't currently earn enough from my self employed work to need to do MTD as far as I'm aware. Would taking this job mean I would have to do MTD or just find a relevant section on the tax return to declare the income once a year as usual?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

Basically what the title says!

I've lost more than I thought I would, to the point that the clothes I was trying to get back into still don't fit, because they're too big now!

I'm currently on maintenance but need to lower my dose with my next order because I'm still shrinking.

Though I'm happy with the weight loss, the loose skin is awful. In particular, my former chunky chin is now a small wattle and my boobs are all crinkly like an old balloon on it last legs!

I could stand to regain a bit of weight. My question is, would filling out a bit again rectify my two mentioned problems?

I know the busy will never be perky again (without surgery!), I'm not so fussed about that, but even in a bra at the moment they look terrible. At my last fitting the lady basically said "You will probably find that padded, uplift bras don't work so well when there's a lot of soft tissue".

Sigh!