IMPORTANT PSA FOR MY LOVELY FOLLOWERS

Doubt anyones gonna read but whatever...

so, since now its a pretty strong possibility ive lost my oldest and only remaining irl friend (my bff since we where 14 to be exact, we are 30, living prrtty far but relationship hasnt changed in 11 years mostly apart) or at the very least ive damaged our relationship INCREDIBLY

and all because of her ashole, conceited, full of himself boyfriend that i can't stand, accusing me of something i didnt do without even considering any other possibility (cause fuck presumption of inocense apparently?)

and her trying to pacify the situation, and by doing so basically putting herself on his side, and this knowing full well my current mental health state (mandated medical leave due to extreme depression, eating dissorder, high stress levels and extreme anxiety, being heavily medicated) and she's defending/excusing his behaviour after his selfish actions/words about some UNIMPORTANT BULLSHIT (this is all... Prepare yourself... About a piece of costume, a vest, i borrowed from him like 5/6 years ago AT LEAST to make patters out of and he thinks i still have it but i can't find it and im pretty sure i give it back... But he says no cause he can't find it... So its only possible I lost it... He's God's perfect creation an could NEVER have made such a mistake...

And i was already looking into btw even tho hes not my friend and i HATE HIM, cause my BFF already had asked me, but he felt the need to push me AGAIN last night AT 1AM (very polite, writing someone you dont talk to in the middle of the night without kmowing if youll wake them...) insisting about it and making me feel even more guily when he has NO BUSINESS talking to me... We are NOT FRIENS...

he gave me a panic attack last night, barely slept and I've had to overmedicate today to stop from loosing my shit altogether...

Which has never happened like this before...

I right now currently have exactly 0 percent to loose, thanks, you son of a fucking turd pile that thinks himself the best most specialest boy ever...

So, i have more than 600 posts on queue (more people should use it tbh), set to 50 a day, so you will keep seeing me for a while, is just not "me, me".

I'll probably be gone after today. Don't know if ill be coming back this time... dont think so tho

Not that anyone here fucking cares 😂 i just thought it polite so say.

The few notes i usually get (if ANY) on my own posts are pity likes from mutuals 😂 (and even those are appreciated, guys❤️)

But hey, dont say i went without saying goodbye!

You wont notice my absence (like the few days i suddenly stopped posting this past week, and i didnt even had the queue), but ill sure miss seeing you in my dash. Wish i could have tall to you more ❤️

TLDR: my life is shit, i had little, now i dont even had the only good constant in my life since before my mom died (i was 14) who is my bff. Its all asshole boyfriend of bff. Can't do anything cause i love her too much to cause her any pain, so i cant escalate and fuck him up as soon as i seen him like id love to...

So im giving up, starting by abandoning this hellsite (beloved) and abandoning myself to ALL the drugs (legal or not) that i can get my hands on that make me numb until hopefully i get to die all chill during the high of my life... Here's hoping🤞

ANNOUNCEMENT: NOT A HELLO, BUT NOT A GOODBYE EITHER

omg hi ... im like . ashamed to come back after saying brief hiatus in october and then disappearing off the face of the earth til FEBRUARY but under the cut i will be explaining myself and the following, if youre interested (and a tl;dr at the very bottom if you don’t wanna scroll thru this obnoxiously long post):

the reason(s) i was gone for so long

what i was doing during that time (its just a personal account yall can scroll past this idrc)

the status of those um . halloween requests

the future of this account

i. so . Hiatus .

i know. i know . i probably mentioned it when i made the announcement post, but my mental health likes to go on one of those rides. yknow the ones where you go like up rlly fast then down maybe and then up then DOWN .... its like that. i needed a break and every time i wanted to come back or thought about it, something would happen and i would get stuck in my own head.

a big reason for getting stuck in my head was (and i hate to admit this ... i hate to admit that i have Insecurities On The Internet) my feelings of inadequacy regarding my writing. i love to plot fics, i love concepts and characters and making little headcanons but i dont ... know if i love writing rn. and i thought for the longest time that like . whatever ill just push thru it its fine ill be fine but it kinda wasnt lmao you can kinda see it in my halloween reqs and what become of them when i get to that but i began to feel like nothing i had put out or would put out would hold up prose wise (and normally i dont feel like this im much more “idc its my life im living it” but thats not a rant for tumblr LMAO). i still feel like that -- like im better as a reader than a writer. but . You Know :-)

tl;dr: mental state go brrrrr

ii. anywhere here’s wonderwall

when i left, i was in a steadily decreasing mental and emotional state, made worse by a situation at work that really was a case of petty jealousy on my end and rlly isnt very consequential now despite how much pain and resentment it gave me when it Was a problem so i wont get into it. the tl;dr of november and december was me using work as an crutch and distraction -- i know my job, i do it well, it helped me not think about my responsibilities and obligations and inadequacies. of course, as the holiday season grew busier n busier i was scheduled so often that i moved 88 or so miles (according to my apple watch, which i ONLY wear at work since im never anywhere else outside my house) and fell into a cycle of showering n sleeping at my house before going back the next day. (theres definitely something to be said abt capitalism and “grind culture” here but once again its not the time or place snsjkdfds)

at the turn of the new year, i happened to remember a birthday card i hadnt filed away for safekeeping from a friend of mine that id been horribly out of touch with til that point. i started crying because i realized how out of touch id been in general up until that point. the month of january was great for me: i was focused, happy, and in a much better place than i had been before. the end of it brought me down focus wise and im hoping that enough time away from my distractions will refocus me bc i ... need it LMAO and though ive burned out from that level of productivity and gotten distracted again im ... trying to stay positive which i think is the most i can do 😁👍🏼

media wise, i got real into stardew valley (but burned out bc i played it extensively as a way to wind down after work), the pokemon platinum romhack renegade platinum (still havent finished it bc of school n i played it w the intent to see if i could nuzlocke it ... bitch its so hard but its so fun bc of it), briefly assassins creed: odyssey (im one of those ppl who completes an entire region before i move to the next so you can tell i burned out of that one + wouldnt have the time to properly devote to it even if i didnt), got back into genshin impact after pulling for xiao (after not touching it for like . months), and danganronpa. yes . danganronpa 😐 i Know. i stopped playing it after the second trial of the first game bc i was so hurt by the outcome and picked it up in late january only to get sucked in (thank god i had the foresight to buy the second and third games during the steam winter sale). rn im at the start of chapter 4 if anyone wants to come in my asks and um . talk to me abt danganronpa

tl;dr: I’m Into Danganronpa Now

iii. you realize halloween was three months ago right

i mentioned this in the first section, but i love to plot things. every request is plotted or at least has a solid foundation. i had fun detailing what concept i wanted to go with considering what i was given, and there were some bangers i might touch up in the future. but heres whats going to happen to the requests themselves:

there are two finished requests. one will be posted tomorrow and the other will be touched up (just bc i finished it doesnt mean its good 🧍‍♂️) and scheduled for next saturday. as for the ones i never got around to ...

i will not be finishing those requests. i hate to be That Person, but i feel like we all expected this 🧍‍♂️ what i will do is post all of my notes for each request in batches -- requests that have an @ to go with them will be mentioned in the post proper, but anon asks will be pictured. (there are some asks that came from blogs who are now deactivated but i wrote down all the prompts and remember most of those askers so ill cross that bridge when i get there) there will most likely be an excerpt or two simply bc i think i mightve written a few plot points or interactions in the form of bullet points. i rlly am sorry about doing this but i remember looking at my notion doc with all the prompts and feeling ... like i wasnt measuring up n it wasnt just to myself or to some intangible concept of “other” id constructed but it was instead to those who requested n actually WANTED to see and hear and read my writing and i ...... im gonna admit thats another big reason i avoided this site.

regardless, youll definitely get what i have (and likely more than just my bullet points and illegible handwriting).

tl;dr: im sorry. what i have in terms of plot, concept, and interaction for every request will be posted, but i cant say ill ever complete them and mean it.

iv. so what now?

well i mean . im not entirely sure how sold i am on haikyuu in the content creation department (as a creator n to a lesser extent, as a consumer). as mentioned previously, its no longer my primary focus. it doesnt mean im not into haikyuu anymore; i have a lot of love for those boys but i cant rlly say im even caught up w recent fandom activity and also havent even finished s4 pt2 LMAO thats on my to do list

and despite all that, i still want to share my plots n concepts and snippets and maybe even fics. it wont happen anytime soon. it might not even happen. but i mean . its better than me saying i wont write ever again shjdkfs but either way ill probably use this blog as a personal blog w the occasional ask game for dialogue prompts (those are always so fun i love making up aus to fit like . the most mundane prompts)

as for my works (past and any potential future), ive opened an ao3 acc here n ill be editing n possibly expanding on my old works to post there. tumblr, to me, is The x reader hub, but i figure more x reader fics on ao3 is never a bad thing.

ill be deleting/posting drafted posts to the queue since they were all meant to be queued anyway as well as (sorry again 🧍‍♂️) deleting or answering asks in the inbox. (moots if you get a notif from me saying i rbed your post from months ago ... mind your business) im very hard to get ahold of and its ... a problem. expect an overhaul of the nav n shit to reflect my new direction n also because i feel like i cant tell if my passion for carrd is shared by the majority HSDKLFS maybe its better to read my info in a normal post ykwim .......

and of course . if youve read all this n decided im no longer worth the follow, i sure as hell cant stop you. thank you for wanting to, at some point, hear what i have to say -- it means more than you think.

tl;dr: writing will be edited and reposted to ao3, this blog will be a personal blog with a hint of writing (sometimes)

the tl;dr to end all tl;drs:

im back! i wont be as active as i used to due to a lessened interest in haikyuu in general, but i have an ao3 acc now where all my past work will be edited, possibly expanded, and reposted. any future work will also find itself there. my halloween requests will be posted in batches as incomplete concepts, plots, and snippets of scenes; i wont be promising to finish any of them.

there are still fic concepts im attached to and want to finish, but i cant promise any more writing on my end. this blog will be a personal blog with maybe writing, not a writing blog with my personal thoughts all over it.

regardless if you stick around or not, its been crazy sexy cool (equal emphasis) being on haikyuu tumblr even tho i wasnt around for long ... even tho its not my main focus anymore, im still excited to see what the future might hold 🤝

love, ari 💌

Bring your family to work day, it’ll be fun they said.

This came to me one night, have been going back and forth about posting it... youll understand when you get to the end. ;)  Warning: The rating gets hotter the longer you read. . . Shall I shamefully suggest not reading this in a public area, not that you should be out and about right now. 

. . . . 

"So how are you liking the tour so far?" You look across the lunch table at your kid sister.

"It's pretty cool, can we go to the armoury next? Or the morgue?" She jumps up and down on her seat with excitement.

You can't help but roll your eyes. For a barely teenager she is very interested in the harder more gruesome side of your job. Always asking about the dead bodies. "Mum suggested you see a therapist yet?" You laugh and she just pokes out her tongue.

"Funny! I'm just curious, that's all." She bites into her sandwich.

"Planning any murders that I should know about?" You flick through the magazine you found on the table when you sat down. Some trash mag.

"Nothing I'm going to tell you about." You look up to see her smirk and you huff out a laugh. That's when Jack walks in, you smile at each other as she walks past to the refrigerator. "You going to introduce me?"

"You going to be semi polite?" You fire back and hear Jack's laugh from behind your left shoulder. You could pick out that laugh in a crowded, loud room. It always made you smile.

"She carrying?"

"Only my whip smart personality." Jack interjects and you laugh. Your sister, Taylor, just roles her eyes. You feel Jack come up beside you before you can see her. "Agent Jacqueline Sloane and who might you be?" She places one hand on her hip and the other on the back of your chair, you can feel her body heat and it takes everything in you not to lean in closer.

"Taylor L/N, Agents Y/n sister." Talyor shoots out her hand and Jack takes it with a short, firm shake.

"Nice to meet you Taylor. Enjoying your day at NCIS?" The microwave beeps and Jack moves and you instantly miss her closeness, Taylor must notice your change in behaviour and she raises an eyebrow at you.

"Sure am, we are about to go see the armory or morgue." She grins her cheeky, I'm smarter than you are grin.

"I never confirmed that." You shoot at her and take a sip of your coffee.

"You never said no either." Her grin only getting bigger.

"She's got you there." Jack's back, this time taking a seat next to you.

"You're not meant to be helping her, Jack." It almost comes out as a growl as your squint your eyes slightly at your friend.

"Wait, you're Jack?" Taylor eyes beam and you shoot her a warning and shocked glare.

"Okay, time to go. Lunch break is over." It bursts out way to quickly and coolly. Jack looks between you both and her eyes land back on the person she knows she'll get more information out of. Taylor.

"Yes, my friends call me that. Why?" She's got her smirk on her face, the one that you usually find tantalising and sexy but right now it's going to get you killed.

"It's nothing, come on Taylor. Let's leave Agent Sloane to her lunch." You get up and tug on Taylor's shoulder a bit to roughly and she shrugs you off. If only you had your gun.

"I'll come only if we go to the armory or-"

"The morgue, fine, fine. I'll see what Jimmy's up to. Now get your arse up and mouth shut." Taylor does as she is told, almost. Jack is eyeing you suspiciously. She won;t let this go.

"She just mentioned having a huge crush on someone named Jack that she works with." Taylor shoots over her shoulder as you two are almost out of the room. You instantly freeze, not daring to look back at Jack and you look down at Taylor as she walks off.

"I may leave you with Jimmy. Forever." You grumble, still standing in the doorway to the lunch room. You dare to look back at Jack and see she has a huge, smug grin plastered on her face, her eyes dancing over your features. "Now you have nothing to say?"

"Wasn't sure you were talking to Taylor or me when you mentioned Jimmy." Her laughter laced into every word.

"Right. I better go before Taylor starts telling the whole agency about my personal life." You give Jack a small, embarrassed smile and start walking out the door again.

"Want to grab a drink later?" Jack shouts as you are about to round the corner but you don't stop. Too flustered with what's just happened and too embarrassed to check if that was to you or someone else that had just walked into the room.

You catch up with Taylor in the bullpen where she is talking with Ellie.

"So let me call Jimmy first otherwise we can check out the armory if he's got something going on." You huff and sit down at your desk, Taylor has perched herself on the front, looking across at Ellie's desk.

"Wait you're still going to take me there after I completely embarrassed you in front of Jack?" She hops up and turns around to face you, folding her arms.

"Wait what happened?" Ellie pipes up and walks over to you.

"Oh you know that thing I've kept secret for several months now. My sweet little sister here just blurted it out in front of said person in the lunch room for all to hear." You grumble dialling the phone.

"And?" Ellie's trying her best to look concerned, maybe comforting but her smile keeps growing. She;s the one person on the team you;ve confided in over the secret crush on Jack Sloane. She pointed a few things out that was your give away about the crush and you just let it all out to her one night working late on a case.

"And she never answered if she wants to have drinks with me tonight?" Jack appearred at the side of the bullpen behind Ellie. Both women, Ellie and Taylor, spin around to see Jack and just as you were about to say something Jimmy picks up.

"Thank god. Jimmy, is it alright if I bring my big mouthed, annoying sister down for you to traumatise forever?" You look from Jack, to Taylor and down to your phone.

"I mean that's one good offer there y/n so how could I refuse?"

"Thanks Jimmy, we'll be down in a few." You hang up and are confronted again by everyone looking at you. "I-" You can't find the words as you look over at Jack.

"She'd love to." Taylor pipes up and picks up you hand to drag you to the elevator.

"I swear to god." You grind your teeth and whisper so only Taylor can hear.

"You'll thank me later."

"Or kill you." You mumble and the elevator doors ding.

The rest of the afternoon tour dragged on, Jimmy kept Taylor entertained for a good hour or two while you went back up to work. Thankfully there was a tonne of paper work to get done so Ellie didn't mention anything about earlier when the boys came back in from their lunch break. Taylor, messaged you saying Kasie was taking her on a tour of her lab and she would come up when it was time to go. You finished the last report an hour early and decided to bite the bullet, you;d seen Jack walk past the bullpen twice already, knowing she wanted to ask but didn;t want to in front of everyone. Ellie smirked when you got up and you just shook you head when she was about to say something.

"What is going on?" Nick saw your interaction but you were already half way up the stairs to answer him discreetly.

"None of your business, Nick." You heard Ellie reply, thankful she's still keeping your soon to be found out secret still a secret for now. You walk down the corridor to Jack's office and knock quietly waiting for an answer.

"Come in, y/n." It's like she can ready your mind.

"I don;t even want to know how you knew it is me." You smile and close the door behind you.

"Cause the last three guesses were wrong." You both luagh and you take a seat in the chair across from her desk. "So about-"

"Yeah look, I didn't handle that well. Obviously." You sigh and look up at the ceiling. "Don't feel obligated or anything, I-"

"Have you eve known me to do something I didn't want to do?" You eyes snap back to hers and you see comfort there, maybe even nerves.

You shake your head. "No, so drinks?" a smile starts to curve your lips and your stomach feels like its full of butterflies all over again.

"Think that's what I said." Her sass is back and you can't help but laugh. "No Taylor though."

"Definitely not. I'll drop her off at home and meet you at Danny's around 1800? We can grab some dinner as well if you like?" Jack nods and you get up to leave. "This is a date right?" You turn around just as you reached the door. Jack's already up and closing the distance between you, she stops about a metre short.

"Think that's what the kids are calling it these days." She laughs and you just shake your head with a sigh.

"I need a drink." You murmur and walk out the door.

"I'll buy you a few later." Jack shouts down the hall before she closes her door.

On queue, Taylor arrives at your desk just as you're walking back down from Jack's office and she has a big grin on her face. You motion to her to keep her mouth shut and she just nods. You start packing up your desk.

"Reports done boss, alright if I take Taylor home now?" You look over to Gibbs and he nods.

"Have fun today Taylor?" Gibbs smiles over at your sister.

"A lot, thank you."

"Oh sure, be a nice polite, angel to him."

"He's actually carrying a gun, sis." Everyone laughs and you just shake your head.

"Yeah because the water pistol I just strapped to my side is just for show." You roll your eyes.

"Give it a few more years and I'll want to see an application, ok kid?" Gibbs nods at Taylor.

"Not sure about that Agent Gibbs but thank you. Watch my sisters back out there." You look at her wide eyed. It's probably the first time you've actually heard concern in her voice and her to worry about you and your job.

"Always do." He smiles and gives you a look.

"Alright. Enough emotions for today. Lets go." You wrap your arm around her shoulders and walk to the elevator. "Didn't know you were so worried about me kid?"

"Always am, but someone's gotta tell the mad guys where to shove it." You both laugh and step into the elevator. "You make a time with Jack?" She asks as the door close in front of you.

"Yep, going home to get changed and then going out for drinks and a meal at Danny's."

"Danny's? Really?" You can hear the disgust in her voice.

"Yeah it's where we usually go for work drinks, she likes it. Why?" It's the Agent's local watering hole and when you suggested it you didn't really think too much of it being an official date, date. Now that Taylor's questioning it, you think about reconsidering.

"Seems a bit, dingy for a first date but whatever you are comfortable with."

"Think I should call her and ask if she wants to go somewhere else?" Not the panic is starting to rise, dam Taylor.

"No, it's fine. Don't worry, geez. Be chill. She seems to really like you." The elevator doors open to the lobby and you walk out.

"You met her for like two seconds."

"She came down when Kasie was working on something and showing me stuff. We chatted." She laughs as your face obviously goes bright red with shock. "I only answered what she wanted to know." Taylor puts her hands up in like a surrender position as you unlock your car.

"And what did she want to know?" You mind flashes back to your interaction with Jack in her office, it must've been after she went to see Kasie. The drive home in filled with everything Taylor said to Jack and what she noticed. Thankfully nothing embarrassing was said, Jack just asking what your likes and dislikes are, Taylor giving Jack an interrogation into what her intentions are and you groaned at that.

Taylor didn't let you drop her back home first. She wanted to help you with your outfit. So you drove back to your apartment and Taylor made you feel like your wardrobe needs a massive over haul. Thankfully you eventually decided on burgondy ankle laced boots with black skinny jeans and a deep red blouse to finish. You add on your classic leather jacket and run Taylor out the door because you're running late.

"Have fun." Taylor winks as she closes the door and you watch her walk up the driveway and into the house before you drive off. The ride to Danny's is filled with nerves and they don't fade as you pull into the parking lot. Jack's car is parked further down and you feel relieved she's here first. Checking your face in the rear view mirror you hop out and head into the bar.

"Hey stranger." You smile, hopefully you aren't as flushed as you feel and Jack smiles up at you.

"Oh hey." She gets up and leans in for a hug, something you've both done numerous times before but this time is feels different. "You look very nice." You catch her eyes give you a once over before you sit down. She had picked a table towards the back of the bar, its a small four seater but instead of sitting across from her, like you probably should have, your body sits in the seat closer to her.

"Not too bad yourself." You smirk and you catch her eyebrow raise before you turn your attention to the drinks menu.

"Didn't get a chance to go home unlike you." She knocks her knee against yours.

"Oh, I noticed." You wink at her, unsure what's gotten into you in the last few minutes but you're glad your mouth is more confident that your body feels.

The drinks menu takes your full attention for the next minute before a waitress comes over, you hear her and Jack chat for a bit before you look up to order. If this wasn't a date or something of that nature you probably wouldn't have noticed the way the woman hung around Jack and kept overly smiling at her. But considering this is a date, any person that looked at Jack was going to grind on your nerves.

"How's the drink menu looking?" Jack thankfully noticed when you looked up and smiled over at you, relieving some of that growing jealousy that was brewing. What surprised you was the hand that she placed gently on your knee. Clearly she'd seen the emotions in your eyes and the waitress noticed the hand under the table.

"I'll have a (your favourite drink) thank you." You give the waitress a polite smile and look back over at Jack.

"Want to grab food yet?"

"I'm good if you are." The hint that you want to drag this on longer made Jack smile wider and you couldn't help but do the same.

"In that case I'll get another one of these." Jack  brings up her glass to her lips and nods at the waitress. She takes the hint.

"I'll be back with the drinks." You expect when the waitress walks away that Jack's hand will retreat but it doesn't at least not right away.

"How was your day with Taylor?" To your surprise the conversation is easy, you chat like when the team goes out for drinks except this time in glaringly obvious it's just you and her. You get to spend more time watching her and you expect she;s doing the same. Her hand eventually moves from your knee but then she touches your wrist, your forearm. It's like a branding iron to your skin every time she touches you but she doesn't notice, the action so simple.

The night flows on, you're a few drinks in now, your brain getting fuzzier each sip you take but the food comes out which takes a bit of the edge off. You eat in mostly silence, looking at the TV thats on above the bar and sneaking peaks at Jack who catches you on more than one occasion. Soon the food is gone and Jack's hand is back on your knee, well more like mid thigh. You hold in a groan as she moves her hand millimetres higher.

"So, do you want another drink?" She asks after a few beats of silence.

You look down at your glass, you havent touched it in a while, her hand too distracting to think or do anything else. "Sure, I'll get the next round." You give her a lazy smile that you hope came off as cute. Her hand gently squeezes your thigh before letting go and getting up.

"Deal." She winks and starts walking to the bar.

"Fuck me." You sigh, possibly a bit too loudly but don't notice the falter in Jack's step as she walks up to the bar. Your eyes are on the ceiling, trying to regain some composure as your thigh all of a sudden feels cold.

It doesn't take Jack long at the bar, it's middle of the week so only a few locals are still left. She places your new drink in front of you and sits back down. You notice a spark in her eye that wasn't there when she left. "So what was that about me fucking you?"

The drink that was in your mouth is now sprayed out across the table and thankfully Jack is laughing at your expense because your face has just gone bright red. "You weren't meant to hear that." You wipe your mouth with a serviette and want the floor to swallow you up whole.

"I hear everything, you know that." Her hand runs up your thigh again, this time sitting slightly higher and you realise for the first time tonight she is fully aware of her actions.

"I sure do. So what about those questions you asked my sister today?" You smirked when Jack's face fell and she knew you'd caught her.

"Wow, Taylor really doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut." Jack takes a swig of her drink.

"Yeah because when you first met her she displayed all the trustworthiness that you thought she'd keep your conversation a secret?" Said with a note of obvious sarcasm.

Jack laughs. "Point taken. That ok?" Her cockiness from earlier is stripped away, she's genuinely asking.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Ok, only im allowed to answer a question with a question."

"Says who?" You get a pinch to the thigh for that but it's totally worth it.

"So you going to finish that drink anytime soon?" Jack looks at the drink you've been swirling in your hand for the past few minutes.

"Maybe, why? We going somewhere?" You smile, the spark lighting in Jack's eyes, her hand placing slightly more pressure on your thigh and you swallow.

Jack leans in slightly. "Well you did make a very good suggestion earlier." It's a whisper which makes you lean in closer.

"What-" You cut yourself short when you look into her eyes, those golden orbs that have all of a sudden gone whiskey brown. You reach down and grab Jack's hand. You both laugh as you get up and you catch the waitress's eye. "Thanks for a good night, ours is about to get a lot better." You throw a few large bills on the table that should cover the nights intake. Jack slaps you on the shoulder with her spare hand as you walk out the door.

"That was petty." There's laughter in her voice.

"Maybe but I wanted to poke her eyes out the way she was looking at you." So the alcohol had definitely gone to your head.

"Someone's possessive."

"That ok?" Jack pulls you by the hand and you tumble into her. Her hand coming up to cup your cheek while the other one is laced in yours. She doesn't say anything, just captures your lips with hers, your free hand grasping at her waist. Her tongue runs along your bottom lip and you grant her access, her tongue gliding along yours at first before she lets go of your hand and her fingers dig into your hair, she takes control, its smooth, fast and spine tingling.

"Guess it was ok." You mumble against her lips as you pull apart far enough to catch your breath.

She laughs and grabs your wrist, tugging you in the direction of a cab thats just pulled up. You slide into the seat beside her, she gives the driver your address and you don't even comment. Her hand still in yours.

"Having a good night ladies?" He looks at you both through the rearview mirror.

"Absolutely." You smile at him and then look over at Jack who is looking out the window. The street lights flying by lighting up her face. The ride to yours is quick, you think for a second that's why she's chosen your place instead of hers and hope that you're right. You quickly pay the driver before Jack reaches for her wallet and hop out the car.

"Have good night." He chuckles, obviously noticing how close you two have been.

Jack follows you up to your apartment on the second floor. You push open the door after a little struggle because she has her arms wrapped around you and it kissing the back of your neck.

"That took you a while..." She hums.

"I wonder why." You drawl and chuck your keys on the table as you walk in, shucking off your jacket and placing it on the chair by the couch, Jack does the same and then turns her attention back to you. "How drunk are you?" It had to be asked. You couldn't go any further thinking she'd sneak out of bed half way through the night and you wouldn't discuss this night ever again.

Jack closes the gap between you. "Enough to know I couldn't drive but not enough to forget about this in the morning when I wake up beside you and do it all over again." She's so smooth and you hope it isn't just the alcohol talking. "You?" Her hands snake around your middle, pulling you closer.

"Enough to question this before going through with it." You drop your lips to hers. Your hand finally getting to thread through her hair and pull her closer. She moans and it eggs you on, you slide your tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss and walking her backwards towards what you hope is your couch. Her knees bump against the couch and she falls back into it and you laugh at her giggles. You follow her down, but she quickly flips you over onto your back and you moan as she kisses down your jawline and neck. Her hands skimming under your top, your hands start roaming and find the hem of her top. She stills, breaking her kiss against your neck which you know it going to leave a mark. "Jack.." You whisper and she kisses your lips, you can tell she trying extra hard to distract your hands and it almost works. Your hands coming up to her neck and putting pressure to make her pull back. "I know."

"Then you know why I don't want to take me shirt off." Its more clipped and final than you expected. You bring her face back down to yours and kiss her forehead. This action you can tell mellows her again.

"I won't pressure you but I wouldn't be in this position right now if I didn't want all of you. Every scar, sassy comment and wrinkle." You get a smack to the shoulder for the last word and it works.

"I don't have-" You shut her up with a kiss and her body melts into yours, you slowly move your hands down her back and rest on her butt for a while before testing her shirt again. She breaks the kiss and sits up so she's straddling you. You watch as she crosses her arms and brings her blouse up and off. Your hands automatically run up her sides and back down, resting comfortably at her waist.

You sit up and she leans down to meet your lips half way, the kiss is full of all the emotion that neither of you can say. She reaches down and runs her hnads under your top, you gasp at the contact and it breaks the kiss. She tugs at the hem of your shirt and you take the hint, raising your arms above your head and she pulls the blouse over your head. "Better?" You bring your arms back down as you throws your blouse somewhere on the floor.

"Only seems fair." She smirks, the fire lighting up her eyes again. You lay back down, bringing Jack with you, she places her hands either side of your head but you pull her closer making her fall and rest her full body wait on you. "You ok?" She asks.

"Perfect. You?" You whisper against her lips, brushing yours over hers waiting for her answer.

"I will be if you kiss me." She smiles and you kiss it away, drawing a moan from deep within her. Nothing more is said, you run your hands down her back, tracing her scars but not lingering feeling her tense under your touch and you cup her ass, she bucks in at the touch and you groan. Her body weight still not enough to calm the fire that is growing between your legs. Like she's read your mind she breaks the kiss and starts a trail of wet, open mouthed kisses down your neck, to your breast, sucking your nipple between her teeth and doing the same to the other one before continuing her assault further south.

"Jack.." You try to say something but her fingers are undoing your jeans and she's peeling them off you before you can say no.

"I can stop if you want." She smirks, standing up and your flick off your jeans with your feet and she drags your panties along with them before hopping back on the couch.

"Bedroom." You breath and she nods. You take her hand and lead her down the hall, flicking on your bedside lamp before turning to find her raking over your body. "Take your clothes off now."

"So bossy." She pouts and you suck her bottom lip between yours and quickly kiss her before running your hands down her sides and stripping her pants and panties in the process. You're on your knees in front of her and you lean in. "y/n" She hisses as you kiss her pussy, running your tongue over her clit, you feel her legs shake and your hands come up behind her knees, holding the back of her thighs, stabilising her. You tongue stroking her, her moans only spurring you on. "I'm going to." You use your hands to pull her legs slightly apart to gain better access and you let one hand drop and slip a finger inside her, her muscles instantly clenching around you. "Jesus." She hisses.

You moan and it sends shock waves through her, you bite down on her clit and she comes apart around you. You moan, sucking on her clit and coaxing her through her orgasm. You feel her hand pull at your hair but you don't move. Swiping your tongue over her clit a few more times before she really tugs you up. "I-" You are cut short by Jack crushing her lips to yours and tugging you back and you fall onto your bed. You shift up the bed and watch her climb up above you.

"You enjoy yourself?" She looks down at you, her eyes still glazed with desire.

You lick your lips, the taste of her still there and her eyes dart to where your tongue just was. "I can do it again if you'd like?"

"I would but right now, I want to taste you." You groan at her sultry words and she moves back down the bed. You watch her every move, her eyes boaring wholes in yours as she leans down and licks over your centre. Your whole body bucks, her hands come up to hold your hips still and she repeats the action over and over and over. She slips two fingers inside you, slowly stroking you while her lips suck your clit and your whole body convulses. You can't help but close your eyes, her hand moves up your body to grasp your breast, flicking your nipple between her thumb and forefinger. You moan, her fingers working you closer and closer.

"Jacqueline." You breath and she picks up the pace, biting slightly at your clit and you come. "Fuck." You swear as you collapse around her, all of her strokes, touches are too much, you wanted to hold on, to savour the feeling but she's too skilled, her fingers working you through your high and her tongue stroking over your clit. Your world crashes down around you and your breathing starts to even out before she pulls herself up the bed. That smug, sexy smile planted on her face.

"Think that was successful." She bites your earlobe, her tongue running over the sentitive spot. You groan and she rises above you again with that smug lustful look.

"Shut up." You pull her down to you and kiss the smug smile off her face. Her body giving in and molding into yours. You kiss each other lazily, both exhausted and sated from sex. It feels like hours until you pull the covers up, covering you both as you feel Jack start to shiver.

"Remind me to thank Taylor the next time I see her." The mention of your sister instantly killing the growing ache between your legs again.

"Don't give her all the credit." You feel her laugh, the movement of her body against yours sending tingles up your spine. Jack kisses your neck, nuzzling into you more.

"She gets some." Her arm draped across your waist tugs slightly. You just hum in reply and wrap your arms tighter around her waist, one of your hands absentmindedly tracing her scars. "Doesn't feel painful under your touch." Your heart melts.

"I'm glad." You swallow hard and drop a kiss to her head. Sleep calling you both and you hope that the morning will just be as easy as how this feels right now.  

. . .

So yeah, I have no excuse for how this ended :D *awkwardly walks away, smirking to myself* I will be updating my other story soon. 

some optional tips 4 simblrs

written by a guy who has absolutely no idea what hes doing these are a mix of basic “how 2 get da followerz” or whatever tips and just stuff that personally lets me have more fun doing this, these arent true for everyone and probably not that good but watch me post them anyway because im a buffoon

also some of these are from a slightly more... cynical standpoint than usual so be prepared 4 that

- a thing ive recently learned is dont schedule posts unless youre a workaholic bc like. you get tired of editing 50 screenshots so you can queue them sOOOO FAST and it gets SO BORING and having so many screenshots lags out ur pc and gOD. so now i personally just edit them individually instead of doing it in bulk and post around 1 a day depending on whether i’ve played or not

- if you gotta go on hiatus you dont have to announce it if you dont wanna. especially if you dont know how long youll be gone for, it honestly doesnt rlly matter unless youre SUPER popular and/or are in a lot of circles in the community

- if you wanna be popular you really just gotta 1. be creative, but dont step out of line too much. thats just the basic truth babey! look at what other simblrs post and while you shouldn’t copy them (duh) you can definitely see what has worked for others in the past. 2. find some kind of Thing to call yours, your own little corner of simblr. i put freckles on fucking everything for example and 3. interact with others! edit peoples’ screenshots, reblog stuff, comment on posts, all that good shit. make some friends :D

- on the other hand, if your goal isnt to be popular (which is probably true for most of you) then you dont have to follow any of that advice. just follow your heart, do exactly what you wanna do and have fun doing it! which is such generic advice ik but just like... do whatever you want. and if your interest dries up, don’t do it! leave it and come back when you feel inspired again. you’re not obligated to post for anyone unless they’re paying for it, even if you’re popular!

keep in mind that im nowhere near the most famous or even experienced simblr so like. feel free to take these with a grain of salt, i’m just iterating what i’ve observed and figured out myself during my time in this community.

happy simming and all that!

Everyone knows that there are a lot of locations in London where Harry Potter was filmed (or set), most famously perhaps Platform 9 and 3/4 at King’s Cross Station. But there are actually a lot of film locations in London that you can visit. I have never seen a complete overview of all of them (and how to get there), so here is a walking tour guide for all the film locations you can see in London!

Overview:

Stops: Lambeth Bridge (1). Westminister Bridge (2). Scotland Place (3). Piccadilly Circus (4). Leicester Square Station (5). Australian High Commission (6). Millenium Bridge (7). Stoney Street, Borough Market (8). Leadenhall Market (9). Claremont Square (10). [King’s Cross Station] (11).

Detailed Walk Description:

You’ll be starting off at Lambeth Bridge. In POA, this is the bridge where the Knight Bus drives between the two double decker busses. Additionally, the side of the bridge is shown in the first film (the sort of London opening shot).

Photo of Lambeth Bridge.

Lambeth Bridge in the third Harry Potter film.

This is the view of Lambeth Bridge, today, from a bit further west along the river. Obviously the shot used in Philosopher’s Stone is from further up, but I don’t think there is a way to get into any of the houses along the river.

This is the shot from the first Harry Potter film.

The next stop is Westminister Bridge. Just walk along the river (on the south side), until you get to the next bridge (generally super crowded). You can see the Houses of Parliament across the river (and the currently veiled Elisabeth Tower – fun fact, Big Ben is actually the name of the largest bell inside the tower, not the tower itself). In OOTP, Harry and the Order of the Phoenix members fly under the bridge and along the Houses of Parliament (other sights shown in the flight are Tower Bridge, the HMS Belfast and the City of London and Canary Wharf skylines).

The next stop is Scotland Place in Whitehall. Walk across Westminister Bridge and turn right to walk towards Trafalgar Square. If you’re interested you can enter Westminister Underground Station – you’ll recognize it from the OOTP film. It’s the station Mr Weasley and Harry enter on their way to the Ministry of Magic.

Westiminister Underground Station.

Scene from Harry Potter 5.

Scotland Place today (there’s an arch over the street on the right in the film which is not actually there (the one the phone box is placed underneath). Also there’s massive construction going on at the moment!

Shot from the films.

Before you reach Trafalgar Square (you can already see it in the distance), turn right into Scotland Place. This street was used both in the Order of the Phoenix and the Deathly Hallows movies. In OOTP, the phone box Mr Weasley and Harry use is placed here, and in DH it’s the place where Ron looks around the corner when he, Harry and Hermione are planning to infiltrate the ministry. Somewhere in the area you can also find the place where the entry to the Ministry of Magic was located in DH (i.e. the toilets). However, they don’t actually exist and were just put up for the film in the middle of the street. I don’t know where exactly that scene was filmed, but if you walk around the area you may find it (I think it’s closer to Westminister Abbey).

Scotland Place today (I literally waited for about 15 min because a massive truck was parking right in front of the corner).

Scene from the film.

If you exit the street again and continue walking you’ll reach Trafalgar Square (with the very noticeable Nelson’s Column in the middle). Walk left (past the Canadian Embassy) and then turn right, until you reach Piccadilly Circus. The place was used to film the scene in DH after Ron, Harry and Hermione escape from the death eaters at Bill and Fleur’s wedding (and almost get run over by a red bus). Piccadilly circus got an entire makeover in the years since the film but the GAP is still there!

Taken from Shaftesbury Avenue (Northeast side of Piccadilly Circus).

The next stop is a sort of hazy one, but I thought I’d include it anyway:

The gate between Patisserie Valerie and no. 12 was used as the entry to the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Walk towards Leicester Square Station. When you’re in front of the station, walk north on Charing Cross Road. In the beginning of the Half-Blood Prince the camera follows the road up from Trafalgar Square (or rather follows the flying deatheater shadow) and then, just after Leicester Square station, ‘enters’ the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley where the deatheaters kidnap Ollivander. This location of this entry is just behind Leicester Square Station, in Great Newport Street (right).

Australia House (or the Australian High Commission).

Walking on, through Convent Garden and towards Strand, a bit behind Waterloo Bridge you’ll reach Australia House (or rather the Australian High Commission). The scenes inside Gringotts were filmed in this house, but sadly, you can’t enter. Some people have told me that you can talk to the security guards, and if they’re having a nice day they will sometimes let you have a peak inside. I’ve never tried this but you’re welcome to try!

The next stop is the Millenium Bridge. To get the best view you can cross the river using Blackfriar’s Bridge (especially great if you’re an Infernal Devices fan and need a short cry) and walk along the river on the south side (which is a lovely walk, too). After a while, the Tate Gallery is on your right, and you can step onto Millenium Bridge and get a lovely view of St Paul’s on the other side of the river. There are two non-HP things I can recommend here: The Tate Gallery is free to enter, and they have a great viewing platform on the 10th floor! Also, an artist has drawn tiny images on chewing gums on the Millenium Bridge that you don’t notice, but some of them are super detailed and look really nice. Also, the Globe Theatre is right next to the bridge (if you’re interested, you can get 5 pound standing tickets for almost all shows).

Scene from HP6.

Shot of the bridge from the south side.

Stay on the south side of the river and walk further east. The next stop is Stoney Street at the Borough Market. Under the bridge over Stoney Street was the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron in the third (and only the third) Harry Potter film (where the Knight Bus bumps the car and triggers the alarm). In the scene in Harry’s room in the Leaky Cauldron you can also see the Southwalk Cathedral and the railway bridge from the window (I don’t know where you can get the exact shot from though). The Borough Market is a great place to have lunch, if you’re feeling hungry. Just around the corner is The George, one of the oldest and loveliest pubs in London!

This must be the darkest shot from the entire film!

The bridge today – during the day, it’s probably going to be super crowded, but if you really want to see the spot you can come back in the evening when the market’s gone.

For the next stop, you can either walk (about 20-30 min), or you can take a bus. We’re crossing the river again (using London Bridge) and walk towards Leadenhall Market (I know it says Old Spitalfield Markets on the map SORRY). This is a really lovely market where two scenes in the first Harry Potter films were shot. Firstly, the scene of Harry and Hagrid walking towards the Leaky Cauldron, and the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron itself. The first shot is in front of shop no. 39 in the Lime Street Passage, the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron is in the Bulls Head Passage.

Shot from the first Harry Potter Film.

Lime Street Passage.

Scene from the film.

The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron today.

To get to the next location I’d recommend to take the tube (although you can also walk, but it’ll take you about 40 minutes). Walk to Moorgate Station and take a north-bound Northern line to Angel Station. From the station, it’s a five-minute walk to Claremont Square. This is the place where the outside of Grimmauld Place No. 12 was filmed. The row of houses is opposite a small park, and you’ll notice a small gate at the end of the street. That’s the gate through which Moody, Harry, Tonks and the others exit the park after their flight across London.

Scene from the 5th film.

Claremont Square, with the park on the right.

We’re getting to the last stop of this tour. Walking along the street, you turn right and then left, and walk down towards King’s Cross Station. The station is right next to St Pancreas Station, and I read somewhere that J. K. Rowling actually thought about St Pancreas Station while writing the Harry Potter books, because she confused the two. Because St Pancreas station is gorgeous and King’s Cross is a bit meh, outer shots of St Pancreas were used in all Harry Potter films whenever King’s Cross station is shown (most noticeably in the second film, when the Weasley’s Ford Anglia circles the tower).

Shot from the second film.

St Pancreas today (do you notice that it’s getting dark? This tour took so long!)

Enter King’s Cross Station. If you enter through the main entrance, you can walk past the big info screens and look right. There you’ll find an “Official” Platform 9 and 3/4 with massive queues and an official fan shop, where you can have your picture taken with half a trolley in the wall and a Platform 9 and 3/4 sign. The actual scene in the movie was filmed at the barriers between platform 4 and 5. Officially, you can’t get there without a ticket, but there’s a sort of back entrance: If you’re standing in front of the fan shop, turn around. You’ll see escalators going up to the second level. Go up, and at the top of the escalators turn left and walk across the bridge. You’ll cross ticket barriers that are usually open, and you can walk on and take the stairs or elevators down to the the platform.

Scene from the film.

Platform 4 in King’s Cross Station.

And that’s the end of the walking tour. I’ve tried my best to mention all the film locations in London that are accessible, and I hope you enjoyed the little look into Harry Potter’s London. Feel free to send in any locations I missed, and I hope your feet are still in one piece! 🙂

London Harry Potter Tour Everyone knows that there are a lot of locations in London where Harry Potter was filmed (or set), most famously perhaps Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station.

I know you probably run the same photo of Pacifica blog too, you’re not slick, i said it once and ill say it again. One day youll slip up and not post the daily pictures and no one else will be there to observe; except for me, ill be there to watch you forget to see you give in. I could kill you but the stress of posting these is probably already doin that job for me, so rather than wish death upon i encourage you to keep going. To see your own demise, to live, to suffer

bruh, i literally have 155 photos of stan on queue right now, posting five a day, which will fill an entire month i think i’m doin p okay XD

no suffering here, just a vehicle to fuel my own procrastination. big midterm exam coming up that i desperately need to study for? i’ll screencap an entire episode of stan instead. want to draw but can’t find motivation? beep beep motha fuckas it’s stan time. 

and for the record, this is actually the only blog of this sort that i ( @a-million-chromatic-dreams ) run. it’s a blatant rip off of @archervale‘s @everyford blog, and to be honest i didn’t know all the “same photo of X character every day” things existed until afterwards. at very least, i hope the fact that this one and archervale’s post a vast variety of stans and fords makes them a little more novel :P

Arplis - News: Good value, but not much more: A review of TAP Air Portugals A321LR in business class, Porto to Newark

TPG Rating

70 100

Pros

Fresh new cabin with comfy throne seat. Tasty food and drink.

Cons

Very poor ground experience and the service could have been more polished.

10 Ground Experience

25 Cabin + Seat

10 Amenities + IFE

14 Food + Beverage

11 Service

Since joining TPG at the start of the year, Ive been fortunate to do an eclectic mix of reviews. From my first time flying Virgin Atlantic to the shortest scheduled flight in the world, Ive had unique and unforgettable experiences. On a recent trip to the States for work, I was looking for an interesting route, aircraft or airline that I could take that had never been reviewed before. TAPs A321LR was exactly that: The more modern, technologically advanced and fuel-efficient version of the A321 I flew back from Amman, Jordan, earlier in the year. It was a no-brainer, it had yet to be reviewed, and it meant my inner AvGeek would get to fly a new aircraft and airline for the first time. But did my experience live up to the self-generated hype?

In This Post

Booking

Another reason that this was a great product to review is the fact that a one-way in business class from London Gatwick (LGW) to Newark (EWR) via Porto (OPO) was pricing at a very reasonable $965. If youre willing to spend the night in Porto which, by the way, I highly recommend you can even find fares as low as about $780 for a one-way ticket. Considering one-way flights between London and New York routinely sell for about $8,000, the stopover is well worth it if youre looking to fly in business class without breaking the bank. Round-trip tickets booked in a similar way also save significant amounts of money compared with the nonstop flights between the two hubs.

As TAP is part of Star Alliance, there are plenty of miles and points redemptions for this flight, too. TAPs own Miles&Go program was showing the one-way OPO to EWR ticket in business class at 145,000 miles and $72. Not cheap. Luckily, though, there are programs that will allow you to book for both fewer miles and less of a cash outlay.

For example,through Uniteds MileagePlus program, if you can find business saver availability, youll pay for 70,000 miles and $45. Another great option is Air Canadas Aeroplan program, where you could use 55,000 miles for a one-way ticket. You can earn both United and Aeroplan miles very easily, as Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer at a 1:1 ratio to United, and American Express Membership Rewards transfer at the same ratio to Aeroplan.

And, right now, TPG readers can get an exclusive 150% bonus on purchasing Lifemiles, another excellent option for booking Star Alliance flights.

Ground Experience

TPG Rating

10/20

CS-TXC

Tail

17:31

Departure

7h 45m

Duration

I was scheduled to fly from Gatwick at 1 p.m, land in Porto at 3:15 p.m. and depart for Newark at 4:55 p.m. With one hour and 45 mins to transfer, what could go wrong?

I arrived nice and early, as my business-class ticket gave me access to the No1 Lounge in Gatwicks South Terminal. There was not one single person in either the premium or economy lines at check-in, which meant the process was super quick. TAPs check-in area was in Zone E, next door to Turkish Airlines, which had about a dozen people waiting in line. I had my bag checked and boarding pass in hand in no time at all. No mention of delays was made to me, either.

Related reading:Comparing British Airways and Turkish Airlines Business Class between London Heathrow and Istanbul

Walking toward the escalators up to departures, I turned around to view an eerily quiet check-in area.

I breezed through the terminals priority security, again, thanks to my business-class ticket. The terminals lounges were on the upper level of departures, on the opposite side to where I came through security.

There was a small queue of people waiting to get into the lounge. When it was my turn, the staff member scanned my boarding pass and handed me a menu. Just like Heathrows No1 Lounge in Terminal 3, the menu was la carte. As always, I did a tour of the lounge to find the seat with the best view and I quickly found this spot. I also noticed that the departures board was suspiciously showing gate displayed at 1:10 p.m., which was after my flight was due to depart. It was just the start of my troubles.

Set up and ready for some work before my flight, I headed to the bar to order something to eat. What Id forgotten is that you could only order once from the menu and had to hand it in when ordering. Breakfast options before 11 a.m were poached egg (singular) and avocado muffin, classic sausage sub and toast and preserves. I was absolutely starving and love my eggs in the morning, so it was an easy decision to make.

I actually laughed out loud at the size of the portion that was plunked down in front of me.

The saving grace was that the yolk was perfectly runny.

Two bites later, I was done and still hungry. I then received a text from the airline. Thankfully, I speak Portuguese, so could see that my flight would now depart at 2:20 p.m., which would mean I would now land in Porto only 30 minutes before my flight to New York. The plot thickens.

As I had more time to kill, I went to see what other delights were on offer.

The lounge was quite busy, so a few of the options were pretty spare and could have done with being refilled.

I dont think anyone had done a quick clean and tidy of the food service areas for a while, either.

After being rather disappointed with the cold buffet, I got back to my seat to find my neighbor had left without ordering any food, so I smugly headed straight back to the bar to order a bacon roll from the all day favourites section of the menu. It was equally as disappointingly small as my egg and avocado but tasted good nonetheless. Other all-day options were a fish-finger wrap and beans on toast. No expense spared there.

In terms of beverages, there was a soft drink, water and juice refill station.

And a coffee machine. I say coffee because it was so bad I almost spat it back into my cup.

The lounge was fairly busy and has a nice variety of different seating areas.

Thats including a cozy TV area sectioned off from the noise of the main lounge area.

I headed to my gate, where boarding was supposed to start at 2 p.m.

The gate area was cramped, and the scene resembled something akin to boarding a Ryanair flight at Stansted (STN). I didnt see any power sockets, and there definitely wasnt enough seating. It didnt help that a Norwegian Dreamliner bound for LAX was boarding at the gate next door. TAPs lounge and boarding experience were distinctly average and certainly not what I would call premium.

Once we were on board, the pilot announced a slot delay due to weather in Porto, which meant we would land at around 5 p.m. Seconds later, I received another text from TAP advising me that I had been rebooked on the flight the following day. On arrival at Porto, there was a huge queue for TAP customer services, so I figured there had been many flight issues that day. I headed straight to the front to find out if I were in the right queue, and a member of the TAP team said she had been waiting for me and that transport and accommodation had already been arranged for myself and the other two business-class passengers from my flight who were also due to fly to Newark. This finally felt like the service that a business-class passenger should receive, as it meant that I didnt have to wait in the queue with over 100 irate Brazilians who had had their flight home canceled.

After an impromptu and fun-filled evening in Porto, a car picked me up from the hotel at 2 p.m. the next day, and I headed back to the airport with the hope that my ground experience would be distinctly better than the day before. Once again, there was nobody waiting in the check-in area for premium passengers.

After a slight technical issue with tagging my bag, I was on quickly on my way toward security, where there were two Fast Track lanes for premium passengers.

Unlike at Lisbon Airpot (LIS), there was no TAP Premium Lounge at Porto. Instead, there was a business-class lounge shared by seemingly every airline with business cabins that used the airport, as well as Priority Pass, Dragon Pass and Diners Club International cardholders. My expectations were low.

Entertainment-wise, there was a sparsely filled magazine and newspaper stand by the entrance.

There was also this phone charging stand, which at first I thought was a great addition, but maybe more so in the 2000s, when portable battery packs werent a thing. Still, it would be a lifesaver if you forgot your charger.

Aside from the main room, which was pretty clinical to start with, it reminded me of a dentists waiting room.

It was a bit nicer and brighter out on the terrace.

But the view was mainly only of the terminal with a bit of the runway in the distance.

The buffet area in the middle of the main room was on the small side.

Though they were cold, I liked the variety of Portuguese and Brazilian snacks and street food. Coxinha are my favourite!

I was less impressed by the tray of sad-looking sandwiches.

And the bowls of stale pastries.

On the plus side, drinks were aplenty.

Including a Nespresso coffee machine. A slight shame, though, as Portuguese coffee is some of the best Ive ever tasted!

There was a variety of local wines.

Some middle of the the road spirits, and other assorted drinks.

After stuffing my face with coxinha, I checked the departures board before 3:30 p.m. when I saw head to gate displayed next to my flight. I thought it was quite early but did what I was told and headed to the gate. As often is the case with European airports, there was a second security area to clear before passing through into the gates area. This process took around 20 minutes.

Once I got to the gate, there was yetanother security screening to clear before I could get on the plane. It was a rather slow and arduous process where I had to take everything out of my bag, remove my shoes and have a full pat-down by a rather stale-breathed guard. Good job I left the lounge on time.

The boarding area was really full.

There were a few charging points around the space. Most were poorly located, meaning passengers sat on the floor to charge their devices.

There was no premium seating area, merely a sign pointing right for premium boarding and left for everyone else.

A day later than scheduled and after a very subpar ground experience first at Gatwick then in Porto, I finally boarded the 2-month-old CS-TXC around 4:30 p.m.

An hour later, we departed slightly later than scheduled at 5:30 p.m.

Cabin and Seat

TPG Rating

25/30

22.3

Width

80in

Bed Length

1

Lavs

I had high expectations for what I would find inside the cabin, and for the most part these were met. The throne seat was in a class of its own. No neighbor, space galore and two greatly positioned windows all to myself.

The small, 16-seat business-class cabin comprised five rows. Odd rows were in a 2-2 configuration, and even rows were in the coveted 1-1 formation arguably one of the best in the sky.

Storage was significantly less in the 2-2 rows.

The cabin was cozy but doesnt feel cramped, considering it was only a narrow-body aircraft.

I did a quick inspection of the seat area and noticed a few sloppy cleaning oversights that could easily have been rectified with a bit of care and attention.

The footwell was actually quite dirty.

The seat controls were easily accessible. The seating positions were fixed, and there was no way of altering them to your own preference.

The footwell was spacious and didnt go too narrow at the end. Perfectly comfortable for me, but not sure it would be as good for those around 6 feet or taller.

There was a shoulder-level reading light and a hook for stowing headphones once in flight.

Then there was what Id call a cupboard rather than a storage compartment.

As well as a headphone hook, there was also a water bottle holder, great for when turbulence hit.

The safety cards and inflight magazines were stored in a small pouch on the other side of the seat next to the window.

Then there was final additional storage gadget in the form of a mesh on springs. Not really sure what it was for, but it was there if you needed it.

Nope, it was not a door. It was the meal tray. It slid out from next to the storage cupboard then flipped down at a 90-degree angle then rotated another 90 degrees into the right position for eating.

The tray table itself was definitely big enough.

There was a 90-degree swivel, but I think this was just part of the stowage process, as it didnt really make leaving the seat any easier.

My 13-inch laptop fit comfortably on the table with enough space for a drink. Or two.

But there was plenty of surface space either side of the side if you wanted to continue working in an office in the sky while dining.

The seat lowered nice and easy into a fully flat bed. The blanket was basic, but I liked the thickness and quality of the pillows. So much so that I asked for a second, which was brought to me with no problem.

There was nothing premium about the single lavatory in the business-class cabin. It was rather small.

And it didnt even have any special amenities.

Due to the narrowness of the plane, the bathroom was almost cut in half diagonally by the wall of the fuselage. It was definitely not the most comfortable of spaces.

Amenities and IFE

TPG Rating

10/15

101

Movies

No

Tailcam

Yes

Headphones

About 10 minutes before takeoff, I received the TAP-branded amenity kit by Portos very own Castelbel. From what I could gather, there were two or three different designs that were handed out at random to passengers.

Inside, there were all of the usual suspects: eye mask, lip balm, earplugs, pen, comb, toothbrush and toothpaste, some body lotion and a pair of socks. Admittedly, the eye mask felt pretty cheap, but I liked the colorful on-brand design of the flight socks.

I was pretty impressed with the size of the inflight-entertainment screen. The picture was crystal-clear, and the tough screen very responsive.

I rarely pay attention during the safety video (naughty, I know) as there are usually far more interesting views to be had out of the window. But not with TAP. I was completely engaged by the airlines fresh, unique and emotive use of expats who have moved to Portugal and learned Portuguese to explain the safety briefing.

In total, there were 101 films, plenty by anyones standards. I liked that there was a selection of Brazilian and Portuguese films, too.

The earphones did not appear to be noise-canceling at all, despite being advertised so.

There was also a wine experience included in the entertainment section, which I thought was pretty cool. But when I asked the crew member serving me if all of the displayed wines were available, she didnt seem to know what I was talking about it. She then explained that there was only the selection of two red and two white wines that she had on the trolley.

The Wi-Fi was the biggest letdown. There were prices ranging from free for messaging to Total Wi-Fi for 24.99 euros, which would mean being connected for the entire flight or so I thought.

Once I had connected, it was immediately clear that it would only be for 200 MB of data. Needless to say, it was less than 30 minutes before I had run out.

Food and Beverage

TPG Rating

14/20

2

Meals

Yes

Champagne

No

Dine on Demand

The focus of this review the Porto-to Newark segment of this trip, but I had such a great food experience on the short flight from Gatwick to Porto that I thought it deserved a mention.

Drinks on that first flight were served pretty much as soon as the seat belt signs went off.

A full meal was served with sizable starter, delicious main course and dessert. The main course was a thick, juicy and perfectly cooked veal tenderloin. I would go as far as to say that it was the best intra-European business-class meal I have ever eaten.

Back to the main event, Porto to Newark. For some reason there was no preflight drink offered before takeoff. About 45 minutes after takeoff, the first drinks were served note the Coke Zero and gin and tonic theme. I rate airlines that serve full fat Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero. I wasnt a massive fan of the Sunbites, though.

Around half an hour after that, dinner was served. There was only one starter: codfish carpaccio with Algarve salad topped with a random sprinkle of olive shavings. The soup was not cream of pumpkin and beetroot mousse, as advertised on the menu, but it was delicious, nonetheless. I think this was the first time Id ever had my soup served from a Thermos, too. I was also asked at this point if Id like another drink.

The bread was really poor. If Id fed it to the ducks, it would have probably knocked one unconscious.

The main course, just as was the case on the Gatwick-to-Porto flight, was my favorite part. The heartier and more comforting the food, the bigger the thumbs up it usually gets, and this was definitely up there with one of my favorites. It was roast lamb in a crispy dough with pumpkin pure. As much as Ive pretty much cut out red meat from my diet, I couldnt resist the sound of this, and Im so glad I chose it.

Shortly after mains had been cleared, a selection of chocolate was offer to cleanse the palate before dessert.

I was given the choice of ice cream, cheese plate or fresh fruit. Naturally, I went for the cheese, which I was told was a strong local cheese, perfectly accompanied by a glass of Portos finest port.

The cheese was indeed strong.Very strong. That still didnt stop me from scraping every single bit out of the rind.

About 90 minutes before landing, I was offered the second meal service. This was no better or worse than the usual half a meal that is served on transatlantic flights before landing. It was a nice snack, but I was certainly still hungry afterward. And the bread? Probably another concussed duck. The presentation was nice, and the food itself was fresh and tasted good. It just wasnt enough to be called a meal.

Service

TPG Rating

11/15

No

Extra Pillows

No

Turndown Service

The service wasnt bad by any means, but it wasnt a particularly memorable experience. The one standout moment for me was that the ground staff at Porto were expecting me and had already arranged ground transportation and a hotel for my unexpected night in Porto. That did feel like business-class service. I thought it strange that there was no preflight drink served after boarding the A321LR to New York.

The crew made sure I had enough to drink and responded in under 30 seconds when I tested the call button, which is certainly commendable. The whole thing just lacked a certain personality not once was I called by my name, and neither did any of the crew try to establish any kind of rapport when I attempted jokes or small talk. That could simply be because Im not funny, but it definitely wasnt a language thing, as falo portugus.

Overall impression

This was by far and away the least premium-feeling premium flight experience I have had so far. But I would much rather have a long-haul flight in the comfort of a lie-flat, throne seat than in a cramped, upright economy. That being said, you really do get what you pay for. If you really want to fly business rather than economy to New York and back, then I would seriously consider this as an option. It can save almost 2,000 on the cost of a direct return flight from London to New York. The bed is flat, and the food is good, and these are probably two of the main differences between economy and business class. What TAP lacks is a real business-class ground experience and a little extra something from its staff. Fix those two things and this lesser-known route might a have a better chance against the competition.

All photos by the author.

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/good-value-but-not-much-more-a-review-of-tap-air-portugals-a321lr-in-business-class-porto-to-newark

Drew & Carly

Drew: doing my head in Carly: record time Carly: wanna swap seats Drew: funny Drew: sitting next to ro, remember, not ali Carly: shes alright Drew: don't think she's down Drew: soz babe Carly: ha Carly: k but shes not dtf you either Carly: poor baby Drew: fuck off Drew: how would you know Carly: your mood is a giveaway Carly: i kno when youre frustrated boy Drew: bet I won't be by the time this trip is over Carly: idc Carly: make that bet w your gf Drew: lies Drew: poor baby Drew: don't reckon she'd appreciate that Carly: ha Carly: why would i lie Drew: 'cos even if you do care, can't have what you want Carly: i can fuck you whenever i want Carly: rn if i wanted to Drew: weren't talking 'bout me Drew: but nah Carly: k Carly: now youre lying Drew: nope Carly: you didnt come into my inbox to cry about your gf Carly: or did you & your that lad now Carly: embarrassing Drew: don't be a bitch Drew: looking for some peace and quiet is that so much to ask Carly: from me yea Carly: you kno i dont do quiet Carly: not w you Drew: ha Drew: cute Carly: & true Carly: arent you bored Carly: dont you wanna have some fun this trip Drew: i told you i'm going to Drew: w ro Carly: yea Carly: get out my inbox then i gotta make my own Carly: plenty of lads on this coach Drew: and girls Carly: nah Carly: back to boys you kno Drew: shame Drew: good times Carly: yea but youre boring now Drew: fuck off Drew: nah i ain't Drew: ali is Carly: tell your missus Carly: ali can still party Drew: not with us Carly: yea Carly: if she wanted Carly: youre the one on a chain Drew: i do what i want Drew: whenever i want Carly: do something then Carly: be fun Drew: whaddya want me to do on this packed coach Carly: the bathroom is free Carly: but k youre too scared to start the party Drew: not scared Drew: just not a moron Carly: k Carly: ill ask someone else Drew: u do that Drew: know it won't be as good as me Carly: ha Carly: maybe used to be Carly: reckon youve lost your touch Carly: married life will do that like Drew: you reckon? Drew: you wish Carly: i kno Carly: its written on you Carly: bored & boring Carly: you couldnt turn me on now Drew: yea yea yea Drew: otherwise written all over your face, babe Carly: ha no Carly: check me out as much as you want you wont see that Drew: so up yourself Carly: cuz im not gonna waste my time w you k Carly: my das more fun than you rn Drew: know you're a traveller like Drew: but that's sick Carly: you cant even slag me off proper these days Carly: who are you Carly: sad Drew: 'cos I don't need another bird doing my head in Drew: all chat but you're the same as her, like Carly: fuck off Carly: nothing ive said i wouldnt follow through on Carly: youre the one thats being a pussy Drew: yeah? well you're a nag Drew: I don't wanna fuck you, get off my dick Carly: get out my inbox Carly: you came pouting to me Drew: 'scuse me for thinking you were different Carly: what do you want boy? Drew: forget it Carly: nah Carly: ask for it Drew: Already did Drew: just be a laugh, yeah, don't get on at me Carly: k Carly: whats in it for me tho? Carly: genuinely asking Drew: idk Drew: didn't promise there was Carly: least youve finally stopped lying Drew: ugh Drew: thought we were getting somewhere girl Carly: im only saying Carly: dont get in a mood Drew: i ain't Drew: who are u sharing a room with Carly: nobody Carly: the numbers are off Drew: lucky Carly: you should be more like me & people wouldnt wanna share w you Drew: always have caleb Drew: banging on and on about his girl Carly: no thanks Drew: didn't think so Drew: nightmare Carly: welcome to the other bed Carly: unless your gonna call me a nympho over it Drew: teachers won't be down but might take you up on that Carly: idc Carly: dont think they were down for me being on this trip Carly: but i paid my money Drew: yeah, that's all they care about Drew: though they were all out there with the behave or you'll get kicked threats Drew: standard Carly: yea Carly: try & send me back home my ma & da arent there Carly: be very irresponsible like Drew: they never are Drew: but they don't need to know that Carly: news to them i had a passport Drew: yeah, only last 5 years don't they? Drew: guess when you was 10 they couldn't always piss off without ya Carly: ha Carly: youre funny when youre not sulking Drew: shut up Drew: 'cos you're alright when you're not being a bitch Carly: ive not been a bitch to you since i was making you work for your 3way Drew: well that was hot so acceptable Carly: k so i can be a bitch if im hot yea Carly: ill remember that Drew: goes without saying Drew: fit girls can get away with anything Carly: so you do think im fit Drew: you know you are Carly: yea but idk what you think Drew: gotta keep you guessing, babe Carly: please Drew: please what? Carly: please do Carly: im bored Drew: same Carly: i can pass you my water bottle if you want Carly: all i could smuggle tho Drew: realtalk Drew: no one's smuggling over borders Drew: not worth the aggro Drew: you'll get stuff here no doubt, i'm losing a week's wages 😒 Carly: its a holiday Carly: itll be worth it Carly: especially if you arent all talk Carly: your gf be losing her v like Drew: i ain't but she is Drew: gonna be hard to get her to 🤐 but if anyone can Carly: in it for the challenge Carly: i get it now Drew: what's to get Drew: she's hot Carly: k Carly: but uptight Drew: better than loose Carly: nah Carly: dont tell me you dont want a girl whod let you do anything Drew: not if she's let every cunt do the same, nah Drew: besides, can train a girl like Ro Carly: she isnt stupid enough to blindly follow commands Carly: or you around Drew: 🤔 we'll see Drew: not that its stupid Drew: i'm not fun to be around? Carly: you were Carly: before you got a wife Drew: not asking for ya Drew: but see, you know what you're missing Carly: youre a good fuck ive never denied it Carly: fun when you want Drew: exactly Drew: its Ro's turn to find out Carly: so go chat her up Carly: you love foreplay Drew: don't reckon she wants her first time to be in the coach toilets Carly: ha Carly: didnt mean you had to do it now boy Drew: you know Drew: work fast Carly: yea Carly: thats romance Carly: dont keep a girl waiting Drew: I am capable Drew: if the situation calls Carly: dont waste that info on me Drew: never Carly: seat swap w me tho Carly: up the front is not a party Carly: you throw up once cuz your hanging & get stuck there for life Drew: 😂 Drew: diddums Drew: alright Drew: can chat up woodfield Drew: caleb will be buzzin' Carly: shes got a body under those new jeans Carly: a goer i reckon Drew: you would Drew: only boys my arse 😏 Carly: gotta do something Carly: bored enough to break a few rules Drew: i see u Drew: MY girlfriend, remember? Carly: what do you think you see Drew: just sayin', asking to move, then saying you're gonna lez off Drew: not that thick 😂 Carly: but obvious Carly: as fantasies go you could do better Drew: been there Drew: done that Carly: not w her Carly: shes no ali but thats mean Drew: again, doubt she'll want you there to help with the devirginizing Drew: try not to take it person Carly: i dont wanna be there Carly: the first time is always shit Drew: nah Drew: not with me Carly: ha Carly: youre not that good Drew: pshhh Drew: don't be bitter Carly: im not Carly: its facts Carly: shell be so nervous youll be lucky if you get more than the tip in Carly: probs shes a crier too Drew: shut up Carly: its not your bad Carly: just how it is Carly: itll get better Carly: maybe good Drew: well it's off-putting Drew: men don't need to know about that stuff Drew: keep it to yourselves Carly: k Carly: just trying to help you be more than all chat Drew: yeah right Drew: like you wanna help her Carly: why wouldnt i Carly: i said shes alright Drew: still, no need to be that charitable Drew: why d'you care? Carly: not offering to warm her up for you babe Carly: ive probs hung out w her more than you have Carly: why shouldnt i care Drew: 'cos she ain't your girlfriend Drew: between me and her, not the fucking committee Carly: unlike you i can care about people im not fucking Drew: 🙄 Drew: whatevs Carly: why do you care if i talk about her or not Carly: that i kno her Drew: 'cos i know what girls are like Drew: always talking Carly: me and her arent bffs Carly: i wouldnt be talking to you if we were Drew: i'd hope not Carly: so dont cry Carly: im not telling her anything Drew: stop acting like you give a shit then Carly: im not acting anything Carly: thats all you babe Drew: fuck off Carly: nowhere to go Carly: busy coach remember Carly: what do you get out of being w her? Carly: she doesnt put out & she does your head in Carly: why bother Carly: there are other virgins in town, i think Drew: idk Drew: she's nice Carly: that it Drew: nah Drew: she's good girlfriend material Drew: you can see, idk why you want me to sing her praises to you Drew: masochist, like 😂 Carly: im only asking Carly: why dont you wanna sing her praises to everyone Drew: i'm not that sorta bloke Drew: cringe Carly: yea Carly: its sweet tho Drew: if you say so Drew: just makes me feel 🤢 Carly: ha Carly: better get up the front boy Drew: deffo Drew: any escape from the caleb and ali show Carly: true Carly: ms woodfield will distract you Carly: shes looking thirsty might offer her a drink Drew: queue for that toilet getting longer by the minute Carly: yea Carly: as if caleb & ali arent in there Carly: slacking Carly: like i taught her nothing Drew: probs just jerk him off in the seats like Drew: not backrow coolkids but still pretty standard Carly: aw Carly: cute Drew: how is that cute Carly: theyre in love Carly: dont be jealous Carly: youd like it if your girl offered to do you Drew: no they ain't Drew: she was with you not that long ago Drew: be on to the next soon Carly: nah Carly: she loves him & its mutual Drew: things change Drew: we don't need to make a song and dance every time someone gets with someone else like Carly: who is Carly: its no big Carly: but its still happening Drew: i'd rather just ignore it 'til it goes away Drew: not like you up in my business 😜 Carly: im not up in any part of you Carly: relax Drew: mhmm Drew: lie harder Carly: nah Carly: i wanna be but im not Carly: facts Carly: id be lying if i said i didnt want you Drew: i know Drew: prove it though Carly: how Carly: what do you want me to do Drew: brave the queue 🤳 Carly: k Carly: [Sends pics and video also because she knows he can't watch it in front of the squad] Drew: tease Drew: swap seats with me so ms woodfield can watch too Carly: prick Carly: youre a bigger tease than me tho Drew: no way Drew: i got the evidence to prove it now Carly: if i was a tease id have given you nothing Carly: let you sweat it Carly: like you are to me Drew: you ain't asked for anything Carly: but you kno what i want Carly: give me something Drew: [Sends ab pic that was just his last Insta] Carly: come on Carly: dont be like that Drew: what? Carly: such an arsehole Carly: im not begging Drew: 😂✌

The making of a hangover: the true impact of one night out

Six reporters in city centres across the country report on one night of British drinking and its impact on the National Health Service

The calm before the storm

8.20pm, Cardiff

Police officers at Cardiff Central police station listen to the Cardiff After Dark briefing before heading out into the city. Photograph: Gareth Phillips for the Guardian

Were at the Cardiff ATC alcohol treatment centre; a collaboration between Cardiff and Vale University health board, local councils, South Wales police, the Welsh ambulance service and Cardiff Street Pastors. Right now, the police are preparing for the evening with a Cardiff After Dark meeting in the Welsh capitals main police station.

Sgt Gavin Howard briefs his team on what theyre doing tonight, with a slideshow with some interesting facts and figures. Last month, there were 145 people treated at the ATC, which is designed to ease pressure on hospital A&E staff by treating people with minor injuries and people suffering from too much drink.

Howard reminds officers to look out for revellers who pre-load drink heavily and cheaply at home before heading into the city centre. Pre-loading is seen as a particular problem for the emergency services the kids call it prinking pre-drinking. Steve Morris

9.09pm, Southampton

Consultant Dr Diana Hulbert, working in University hospital, Southampton, in the accident and emergency. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian

Emergency consultant Diana Hulbert, who is in charge tonight, explains that not all alcohol-related attendances happen after a night on the town. A classic one is people waking up the next day and finding their wrist turned the wrong way, says Hulbert. So people are just as likely to present on the morning after.

She doesnt judge people who turn up in the department because of alcohol-related injuries or accidents, but says over the past 20 years she had noticed changes that are concerning.

People drink differently. Spirits is more a young persons drink and they can make people profoundly drunk very quickly. A beer is two units and you cant drink that many, maybe 10 pints. But if youre drinking shots, you can down five in five minutes. Thats what young people do. Lisa OCarroll

Keeping people out of A&E

Across the country, teams of people tour the streets treating relatively minor injuries suffered by people out on the town. In Manchester, they are called the Street Angels; Cardiff and other cities have their Street Pastors and, in Leicester, they are the Polamb.

Members of the Manchester Street Angels call a young womans father in order to help her get home. Photograph: Gary Calton for the Guardian

9.15pm, Leicester

On some nights the Polamb police-ambulance alcohol treatment vehicle in Leicester is a hub for treating people with alcohol-related injuries, attending up to 15 incidents in a night. It gets to the point that some of the local people recognise the Polamb and the paramedics who drive it. Jane Squire, East Midlands ambulance service paramedic, says one man she used to see regularly in the streets, a heavy drinker who would often call the ambulance for help, called her his green angel, for the dark green of the ambulance service uniform.

Sometimes theyll come up have a conversation with you and say: Ive cut my finger, can I have a plaster? says Squire. Other times theyll come up and say: Ive hurt my hand, can you take me to hospital? and Ill say: It says ambulance, not taxi.

Emergency services in Leicester city centre. Photograph: Kate Lyons for the Guardian

But the first call-out the Polamb has received now that the policeman for the evening, Const Joe Couchman, is on board is more serious treating a man in his 40s who suffered a cardiac arrest on the street. This isnt a typical call-out for the Polamb, not being alcohol-related, though it is believed the man was a heavy drinker, but they go where the need arises. Kate Lyons

11.13pm, Edinburgh

Tony Clapham (left) with his team of Edinburgh Street Pastors out on the streets. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

At Greenside parish church on Royal Terrace, in the centre of Edinburgh, the citys Street Pastors are preparing for the night with tea, home baking and a rousing hymn or two.

Street Pastors is an initiative of the Ascension Trust and was pioneered in London in 2013. It is now active in 270 towns and cities across the UK.

Street Pastors are volunteers from local churches who patrol in teams of men and women, usually from 10pm to 4am on a Friday and Saturday night, to care for, listen to and help people who out on the streets, whether celebrating on a hen night or homeless.

Two teams are going out tonight, one to the Grassmarket and another to George Street, with backpacks containing flasks of hot drinks and biscuits.

As team leader Tony Clapham explains, some of these volunteers have been working on the night time streets and have built up strong relationships with homeless people, as well as police and paramedics and other concerned with health and safety of the night time economy. Libby Brooks

Midnight, Stoke

Senior sister Nicola Beckett tries to wake a man who has come into A&E with suspected alcohol abuse issues at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

One man, a regular alcohol abuser, has run off from hospital, and senior sister Nicola Beckett has to send police to find him, because he is now deemed a vulnerable adult as he has not had full medical checkups.

The hospital now has so many regular attendees they have a special group for them all, which flags up if someone has been in more than three times a month. Sometimes Beckett sees someone twice a day.

Paramedic Tracy Proud (2nd left, purple hair) along with paramedic colleagues care for an unconscious man who is admitted to A&E with suspected alcohol abuse issues at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

You do get friendly with them, they are as nice to you as you are to them. You do see them decline, the physical decline. You admit them to rehab but you just know youll see them again. Its an addiction, an illness. So many, you are discharging them and they say: Ive got no home to go to. You sometimes do get a sense they are here for a hot meal and a bed and a kind face.

Beckett has seen some terrifying moments too. I dont want to make it too dramatic. But yes, I have feared for my life. You are trained in conflict management, self-defence. But if someone is drunk and aggressive, I cant handle that myself.

Elsewhere, she reported, patients were queuing on beds in the corridor at the ambulance triage. Paramedic Tracy Proud was liaising with A&E staff to speed up the transfer of people.

Paramedic Tracy Proud. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

Its ridiculous, she said, looking over her shoulder at the queue of beds behind her. One patient has a can of Skol under the trolley.

I think if you went through most of the patients, 85% shouldnt be here. People have a different view about what an emergency is. If Im called to look after a teenager or young person who is drunk, I call their parents straight away. Parents dont realise it, but its not our job to just be watching a drunk person who has passed out.

Agitated patients have lashed out in the back of moving ambulance. I had one patient who I thought was asleep and he came to, and he turned on me. I had to jump out the side door of the van. Jessica Elgot

A nurse attends to a young female student from Keele University who has been taken to A&E with suspected alochol abuse issues and is treated in resus at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

12.17am, Manchester

Josh Halliday speaks with chief Angel, Rachel Goddard.

12.58am, Southampton

Nurse Katherine Chipande working in A&E at University hospital, Southampton. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian

A night out in Southampton has turned into a night in A&E for one young woman who has just been admitted with a head injury. She had been at a party and fell and hit her head. There was alcohol and drugs, said nurse Catherine Chipande.

There are about 20 other patients in the majors area with two sleeping off the alcohol and a third about to be assessed.

Trouble 1.17am, Liverpool

Two Mikes, 23 and 32, a Carl, 18 and a Tom, 23, are sitting in a pub in the small hours. None has ever ended up in A&E, though Toms ended up in the drunk and disorderly, you know, the police. He got tangled up in the theft of a plastic ornament and jostled a plain clothes police officer leaping from a Vauxhall Corsa, five years ago. This is my time, he says triumphantly, to get my story out. If Id known he were a copper, things would have gone very differently. I was at my aunties 40th.

Mike the younger said: Things happen when youre drunk. I hit my cousin in the face on my 20th birthday.

The bottom line, said Mike the older, is that if youre trouble, trouble will find you. Yes, said the younger Mike resoundingly. My cousin went to Krazy House … Is that with a C or a K? How can you ask that? (they all shake their heads). And the next thing you know, hes had his nose broken. Is this the same cousin you punched in the face? I gave him a black eye. Someone else broke his nose. Theres levels. I know this, I studied law at A level.

The older Mike takes control. This is a beautiful place. This isnt a degenerate place. Independent bars, independent clubs, independent eateries. The transformation of Liverpool, the systemic regeneration of every part of this city, is almost beyond compare. I love this city and the people of this city. Zoe Williams

The view from the professionals

1.26am, Southampton

All has been calm in the assessment area in Southampton until now when a very aggressive drunk man is admitted with a cut to his face, swearing at anyone in sight. He is being held down by two policemen. We are advised not to go near him. Fuck off, he shouts to a female ambulance crew member accompanying him.

The man is refusing to cooperate as he is placed in a bay next to an elderly lady, beaming with a grateful smile towards the two nurses attending to her.

It takes a while for experienced staff to calm down the 29-year-old. Then its all sweetness and light, with a friendly hello for staff as he is wheeled in to majors for further assessment.

Sometimes its like that but sometimes they dont calm down at all and they get carried out in handcuffs. If it gets too bad and they have been assessed and they are not too bad they are just taken away by police, said receptionist Sarah Jones. Lisa OCarroll

1.46am, Manchester

Outside Deansgate Locks, a popular party spot with several bars and clubs, its not quite kicking out time but were already seeing a couple of early casualties. A drunk girl has fallen and cut her knee badly. Shes crying on the phone to her parents while being treated by the Street Angels. Another job saved from paramedics. Josh Halliday

1.51am, Stoke

Dr Ben Arnold in A&E at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

Dr Ben Arnold, a senior house office in emergency medicine, loves a Friday night in the minor injuries section.

I like drunk people when they are not so unwell, you can joke with them. Their friends have brought them in because theyre worried about them, but from a medical point of view, theyre healthy, you can have a chat. Theres a common theme which colours the excuses made by revellers as they come round in A&E.

They say their drink has been spiked, their friends say: They always drink this much, it must be something in the drink. But it obviously is because they have had more than usual or havent eaten enough.

Its younger ones, 18-year-olds, who are more honest about it. They do get very embarrassed especially if they have had a loss of continence. And they have to go home in a hospital gown.

Sometimes, its not just the patients causing Arnold all the bother. Its friends and relatives who might be a bit drunk. They get bored, they dress up in the gloves and gowns, mucking about and you have to go and remind them that a hospital is a serious place. Jessica Elgot

1.55am, Cardiff

A nurse helps a very drunk teenager at the ATC in Bridge Street, Cardiff. Photograph: Gareth Phillips for the Guardian

An 18-year-old student is found lying alone, clearly drunk, on the pavement close to the university. There were a series of sexual assaults on women in this area last year so passersby are worried and dial 999.

She has not been assaulted but has simply drunk too much at a house party. An ambulance crew arrives and takes her to the alcohol treatment centre ATC. She is sick on the way and sick several times at the ATC.

At the ATC she is assessed and given water. Ceri Martin, a sister, and Charlotte Pritchard, a healthcare support worker tend to her. She is joined by a friend at the ATC and they sit together, slumped in a corner, waiting for her to recover.

Shell be here for two or three hours while she gets herself together, said Martin. Well get her to drink water, observe her and keep her warm. Then well make sure she gets home safely.

Im just glad that theres a place like this for young women like that. Shes in a safe place and were helping keep pressure off A&E.

A street pastor radios in to say she is bringing someone in to the ATC. So it begins, says Pritchard. It still could be a long night/morning here.

But its not always a thankless task, as this note at the ATC indicates:

steven morris (@stevenmorris20) January 23, 2016

A grateful patient cared for at the alcohol treatment centre in Cardiff. pic.twitter.com/CiLLATTFIV

2am, Manchester

Josh Halliday talks to Street Angel volunteer Paul Jones

2.01am, Southampton

Suspected drunk male brought into the assessment area of A&E in University hospital, Southampton. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian

Two more alcohol admissions in Southampton in the space of 10 minutes, one so inebriated he is semi-conscious.

The worry here is that the alcohol might mask a head injury, says nurse Sam Carter. So we do a set of neuro obs [observations] and lactate assessment to see if he is dehydrated. We might also resort to pain stimuli, squeeze his trapezium really hard to check his responses, she adds. Ouch. Lisa OCarroll

2.10am, Stoke

Back in Stoke, there are 99 patients in A&E at 2am, which is an achievement for the staff, the first time numbers have dropped below 100 since 4.30pm yesterday. Patients are being discharged, or waiting to be admitted to other departments as beds there become available. Though some staff are beginning to end their shifts, many others are here until the morning. More than 100 people have come through the doors already since midnight; some who have overindulged tonight are on trollies in the corridor making emotional phone calls. There is more work to do before the night is over for A&E staff five more ambulances are on their way. Jessica Elgot

Source: http://allofbeer.com/the-making-of-a-hangover-the-true-impact-of-one-night-out/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/the-making-of-a-hangover-the-true-impact-of-one-night-out/

The making of a hangover: the true impact of one night out

Six reporters in city centres across the country report on one night of British drinking and its impact on the National Health Service

The calm before the storm

8.20pm, Cardiff

Police officers at Cardiff Central police station listen to the Cardiff After Dark briefing before heading out into the city. Photograph: Gareth Phillips for the Guardian

Were at the Cardiff ATC alcohol treatment centre; a collaboration between Cardiff and Vale University health board, local councils, South Wales police, the Welsh ambulance service and Cardiff Street Pastors. Right now, the police are preparing for the evening with a Cardiff After Dark meeting in the Welsh capitals main police station.

Sgt Gavin Howard briefs his team on what theyre doing tonight, with a slideshow with some interesting facts and figures. Last month, there were 145 people treated at the ATC, which is designed to ease pressure on hospital A&E staff by treating people with minor injuries and people suffering from too much drink.

Howard reminds officers to look out for revellers who pre-load drink heavily and cheaply at home before heading into the city centre. Pre-loading is seen as a particular problem for the emergency services the kids call it prinking pre-drinking. Steve Morris

9.09pm, Southampton

Consultant Dr Diana Hulbert, working in University hospital, Southampton, in the accident and emergency. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian

Emergency consultant Diana Hulbert, who is in charge tonight, explains that not all alcohol-related attendances happen after a night on the town. A classic one is people waking up the next day and finding their wrist turned the wrong way, says Hulbert. So people are just as likely to present on the morning after.

She doesnt judge people who turn up in the department because of alcohol-related injuries or accidents, but says over the past 20 years she had noticed changes that are concerning.

People drink differently. Spirits is more a young persons drink and they can make people profoundly drunk very quickly. A beer is two units and you cant drink that many, maybe 10 pints. But if youre drinking shots, you can down five in five minutes. Thats what young people do. Lisa OCarroll

Keeping people out of A&E

Across the country, teams of people tour the streets treating relatively minor injuries suffered by people out on the town. In Manchester, they are called the Street Angels; Cardiff and other cities have their Street Pastors and, in Leicester, they are the Polamb.

Members of the Manchester Street Angels call a young womans father in order to help her get home. Photograph: Gary Calton for the Guardian

9.15pm, Leicester

On some nights the Polamb police-ambulance alcohol treatment vehicle in Leicester is a hub for treating people with alcohol-related injuries, attending up to 15 incidents in a night. It gets to the point that some of the local people recognise the Polamb and the paramedics who drive it. Jane Squire, East Midlands ambulance service paramedic, says one man she used to see regularly in the streets, a heavy drinker who would often call the ambulance for help, called her his green angel, for the dark green of the ambulance service uniform.

Sometimes theyll come up have a conversation with you and say: Ive cut my finger, can I have a plaster? says Squire. Other times theyll come up and say: Ive hurt my hand, can you take me to hospital? and Ill say: It says ambulance, not taxi.

Emergency services in Leicester city centre. Photograph: Kate Lyons for the Guardian

But the first call-out the Polamb has received now that the policeman for the evening, Const Joe Couchman, is on board is more serious treating a man in his 40s who suffered a cardiac arrest on the street. This isnt a typical call-out for the Polamb, not being alcohol-related, though it is believed the man was a heavy drinker, but they go where the need arises. Kate Lyons

11.13pm, Edinburgh

Tony Clapham (left) with his team of Edinburgh Street Pastors out on the streets. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

At Greenside parish church on Royal Terrace, in the centre of Edinburgh, the citys Street Pastors are preparing for the night with tea, home baking and a rousing hymn or two.

Street Pastors is an initiative of the Ascension Trust and was pioneered in London in 2013. It is now active in 270 towns and cities across the UK.

Street Pastors are volunteers from local churches who patrol in teams of men and women, usually from 10pm to 4am on a Friday and Saturday night, to care for, listen to and help people who out on the streets, whether celebrating on a hen night or homeless.

Two teams are going out tonight, one to the Grassmarket and another to George Street, with backpacks containing flasks of hot drinks and biscuits.

As team leader Tony Clapham explains, some of these volunteers have been working on the night time streets and have built up strong relationships with homeless people, as well as police and paramedics and other concerned with health and safety of the night time economy. Libby Brooks

Midnight, Stoke

Senior sister Nicola Beckett tries to wake a man who has come into A&E with suspected alcohol abuse issues at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

One man, a regular alcohol abuser, has run off from hospital, and senior sister Nicola Beckett has to send police to find him, because he is now deemed a vulnerable adult as he has not had full medical checkups.

The hospital now has so many regular attendees they have a special group for them all, which flags up if someone has been in more than three times a month. Sometimes Beckett sees someone twice a day.

Paramedic Tracy Proud (2nd left, purple hair) along with paramedic colleagues care for an unconscious man who is admitted to A&E with suspected alcohol abuse issues at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

You do get friendly with them, they are as nice to you as you are to them. You do see them decline, the physical decline. You admit them to rehab but you just know youll see them again. Its an addiction, an illness. So many, you are discharging them and they say: Ive got no home to go to. You sometimes do get a sense they are here for a hot meal and a bed and a kind face.

Beckett has seen some terrifying moments too. I dont want to make it too dramatic. But yes, I have feared for my life. You are trained in conflict management, self-defence. But if someone is drunk and aggressive, I cant handle that myself.

Elsewhere, she reported, patients were queuing on beds in the corridor at the ambulance triage. Paramedic Tracy Proud was liaising with A&E staff to speed up the transfer of people.

Paramedic Tracy Proud. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

Its ridiculous, she said, looking over her shoulder at the queue of beds behind her. One patient has a can of Skol under the trolley.

I think if you went through most of the patients, 85% shouldnt be here. People have a different view about what an emergency is. If Im called to look after a teenager or young person who is drunk, I call their parents straight away. Parents dont realise it, but its not our job to just be watching a drunk person who has passed out.

Agitated patients have lashed out in the back of moving ambulance. I had one patient who I thought was asleep and he came to, and he turned on me. I had to jump out the side door of the van. Jessica Elgot

A nurse attends to a young female student from Keele University who has been taken to A&E with suspected alochol abuse issues and is treated in resus at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

12.17am, Manchester

Josh Halliday speaks with chief Angel, Rachel Goddard.

12.58am, Southampton

Nurse Katherine Chipande working in A&E at University hospital, Southampton. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian

A night out in Southampton has turned into a night in A&E for one young woman who has just been admitted with a head injury. She had been at a party and fell and hit her head. There was alcohol and drugs, said nurse Catherine Chipande.

There are about 20 other patients in the majors area with two sleeping off the alcohol and a third about to be assessed.

Trouble 1.17am, Liverpool

Two Mikes, 23 and 32, a Carl, 18 and a Tom, 23, are sitting in a pub in the small hours. None has ever ended up in A&E, though Toms ended up in the drunk and disorderly, you know, the police. He got tangled up in the theft of a plastic ornament and jostled a plain clothes police officer leaping from a Vauxhall Corsa, five years ago. This is my time, he says triumphantly, to get my story out. If Id known he were a copper, things would have gone very differently. I was at my aunties 40th.

Mike the younger said: Things happen when youre drunk. I hit my cousin in the face on my 20th birthday.

The bottom line, said Mike the older, is that if youre trouble, trouble will find you. Yes, said the younger Mike resoundingly. My cousin went to Krazy House … Is that with a C or a K? How can you ask that? (they all shake their heads). And the next thing you know, hes had his nose broken. Is this the same cousin you punched in the face? I gave him a black eye. Someone else broke his nose. Theres levels. I know this, I studied law at A level.

The older Mike takes control. This is a beautiful place. This isnt a degenerate place. Independent bars, independent clubs, independent eateries. The transformation of Liverpool, the systemic regeneration of every part of this city, is almost beyond compare. I love this city and the people of this city. Zoe Williams

The view from the professionals

1.26am, Southampton

All has been calm in the assessment area in Southampton until now when a very aggressive drunk man is admitted with a cut to his face, swearing at anyone in sight. He is being held down by two policemen. We are advised not to go near him. Fuck off, he shouts to a female ambulance crew member accompanying him.

The man is refusing to cooperate as he is placed in a bay next to an elderly lady, beaming with a grateful smile towards the two nurses attending to her.

It takes a while for experienced staff to calm down the 29-year-old. Then its all sweetness and light, with a friendly hello for staff as he is wheeled in to majors for further assessment.

Sometimes its like that but sometimes they dont calm down at all and they get carried out in handcuffs. If it gets too bad and they have been assessed and they are not too bad they are just taken away by police, said receptionist Sarah Jones. Lisa OCarroll

1.46am, Manchester

Outside Deansgate Locks, a popular party spot with several bars and clubs, its not quite kicking out time but were already seeing a couple of early casualties. A drunk girl has fallen and cut her knee badly. Shes crying on the phone to her parents while being treated by the Street Angels. Another job saved from paramedics. Josh Halliday

1.51am, Stoke

Dr Ben Arnold in A&E at Royal Stoke University hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

Dr Ben Arnold, a senior house office in emergency medicine, loves a Friday night in the minor injuries section.

I like drunk people when they are not so unwell, you can joke with them. Their friends have brought them in because theyre worried about them, but from a medical point of view, theyre healthy, you can have a chat. Theres a common theme which colours the excuses made by revellers as they come round in A&E.

They say their drink has been spiked, their friends say: They always drink this much, it must be something in the drink. But it obviously is because they have had more than usual or havent eaten enough.

Its younger ones, 18-year-olds, who are more honest about it. They do get very embarrassed especially if they have had a loss of continence. And they have to go home in a hospital gown.

Sometimes, its not just the patients causing Arnold all the bother. Its friends and relatives who might be a bit drunk. They get bored, they dress up in the gloves and gowns, mucking about and you have to go and remind them that a hospital is a serious place. Jessica Elgot

1.55am, Cardiff

A nurse helps a very drunk teenager at the ATC in Bridge Street, Cardiff. Photograph: Gareth Phillips for the Guardian

An 18-year-old student is found lying alone, clearly drunk, on the pavement close to the university. There were a series of sexual assaults on women in this area last year so passersby are worried and dial 999.

She has not been assaulted but has simply drunk too much at a house party. An ambulance crew arrives and takes her to the alcohol treatment centre ATC. She is sick on the way and sick several times at the ATC.

At the ATC she is assessed and given water. Ceri Martin, a sister, and Charlotte Pritchard, a healthcare support worker tend to her. She is joined by a friend at the ATC and they sit together, slumped in a corner, waiting for her to recover.

Shell be here for two or three hours while she gets herself together, said Martin. Well get her to drink water, observe her and keep her warm. Then well make sure she gets home safely.

Im just glad that theres a place like this for young women like that. Shes in a safe place and were helping keep pressure off A&E.

A street pastor radios in to say she is bringing someone in to the ATC. So it begins, says Pritchard. It still could be a long night/morning here.

But its not always a thankless task, as this note at the ATC indicates:

steven morris (@stevenmorris20) January 23, 2016

A grateful patient cared for at the alcohol treatment centre in Cardiff. pic.twitter.com/CiLLATTFIV

2am, Manchester

Josh Halliday talks to Street Angel volunteer Paul Jones

2.01am, Southampton

Suspected drunk male brought into the assessment area of A&E in University hospital, Southampton. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian

Two more alcohol admissions in Southampton in the space of 10 minutes, one so inebriated he is semi-conscious.

The worry here is that the alcohol might mask a head injury, says nurse Sam Carter. So we do a set of neuro obs [observations] and lactate assessment to see if he is dehydrated. We might also resort to pain stimuli, squeeze his trapezium really hard to check his responses, she adds. Ouch. Lisa OCarroll

2.10am, Stoke

Back in Stoke, there are 99 patients in A&E at 2am, which is an achievement for the staff, the first time numbers have dropped below 100 since 4.30pm yesterday. Patients are being discharged, or waiting to be admitted to other departments as beds there become available. Though some staff are beginning to end their shifts, many others are here until the morning. More than 100 people have come through the doors already since midnight; some who have overindulged tonight are on trollies in the corridor making emotional phone calls. There is more work to do before the night is over for A&E staff five more ambulances are on their way. Jessica Elgot

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/the-making-of-a-hangover-the-true-impact-of-one-night-out/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/169240948782

#App of the Week: #MightyTV finds the next show you’ll fall in #love with

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/app-of-the-week-mightytv-finds-the-next-show-youll-fall-in-love-with/

#App of the Week: #MightyTV finds the next show you’ll fall in #love with

Discovering your subsequent favourite TV present is usually a problem. Certain, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon all have built-in advice engines, however you’ll usually simply see the identical reveals advised again and again.

Plus, you’ll be able to’t inform one service that you just already watched the present on one other one other service and it was or wasn’t your factor. Certain, you would fee the present, however that’s usually not a straightforward activity should you’re utilizing a sport console or streaming media participant, because of restricted controls and primary UI for TV-based portals.

A new app referred to as MightyTV needs to unravel that drawback, and it provides a super-smart social component to the combination too.

For many individuals, their relationship with their favourite TV reveals and films is sort of as essential as relationships with different individuals, so MightyTV took the Tinder method to discovering out your pursuits.

You swipe proper or left to inform the app should you like or dislike the title, and you’ll even “Love” the title by holding to the suitable. If there’s a title you haven’t seen however thinks seems to be fascinating, you’ll be able to add it to your checklist with a faucet, or skip it for now with an upward swipe. MightyTV additionally consists of quick synopses and the trailers, if you wish to know just a little bit extra a few film earlier than including it to your checklist.

Whereas the app surfaced some nice films and TV reveals for me, the true energy comes if you add a pal to the combination. If you happen to’ve each swiped by way of just a few dozen selections, you’ll be able to “mashup” you two advice profiles to get some advised choices. So no extra scrolling by way of Netflix looking for one thing to agree on.

The one disappointment in MightyTV is that including films to your watchlist doesn’t really add them to your queue on the streaming community. As a result of every streaming platform is fairly closed off, you’ll have to search around for the really useful titles your self.

Nevertheless, MightyTV does the perfect it could with the choices obtainable in the present day. Customers can inform the app which platforms they subscribe to (proper now, MightyTV helps Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video Showtime and HBO Now), they usually can notice whether or not they’re trying to purchase or lease titles. This helps the app determine which choices to show, as a result of there’s nothing worse than discovering an excellent film or present solely to study that you just don’t pay for that streaming platform.

The MightyTV app is free, however solely obtainable on iOS proper now. If it’s time to fall in love with a brand new TV present, that is the app to search out it for you.

Real Ghosts

Ghost stories seem to follow me wherever I go. I've heard a lot of them and I've been through a couple myself. Whenever I am getting ready to tell a few to a new listener I usually start with something I read in a book by Glen Grant. This is the jist of it... Why do we get chicken skin when we hear ghost stories? You tell a funny story, nothing. You talk about the traffic, nope. Perhaps you get a tickle here and there but never the same chill down your spine that you get from something scary. There is a good reason for this. It is said that whenever you tell a ghost story, nearby spirits will gather around to listen. The chill you feel is from their presence. As for many things when dealing with supernatural tales, you'll have to just take my word for the fact that I've had 'experiences'. But spend some time allowing me to explain how I was able to convince myself that these things actually happened and maybe you'll believe in my ghosts too: Friend: http://www.blumhouse.com/2017/03/20/this-footage-of-a-morgue-door-slamming-by-itself-is-the-creepiest-thing-youll-see-today/ I mean, chances are it's not real. But it's pretty rad. Me: Right around 1:08 the flashlight goes right over a fishing wire looking string in the hinge of the door. Otherwise, it's a cool story. If I had created this gag, the door and lights would have been less repetitive and more randomized. Also, I would have given them one good jump scare right when they got up close to it. Gotta bring it a little harder. Nice effort though. I am the last person that wants to discredit a good scare, but this one was rather obvious. I'd be happy to share a video that I believe to be genuine ghost footage if that sort of thing interests you... Friend: Yes pleassssse Me: https://youtu.be/g428ZB1KrgE It doesn't seem like much... but I have my reasons. Friend: Do tell Me: This is a clip from Syfy's 'Destination Truth'. I watched this show religiously. Not because it was any good. Let's just say it was on my queue. (I watched all the ghost shows.) I actually found the host to be a real jerk to people in other countries and seemed to be blatantly acting (poorly, at that) when reacting to "events". Total fake show, but a good time waster none the less. This episode (Season 2, episode 11) in Aokigahara Forest was different however. Aokigahara is a Japanese forest famous for people commiting suicide... a 'haunted forest' from the description. You've probably heard about it. If not, Vice did a good documentary on it. There is manga and movies related to the subject as well. Located under the shadow of Mt. Fuji, It is a well known and troubling fact that it is the second most popular location in the world to commit suicide. The first being The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. People go there, camp out for a few days and find a place to end their life. It is believed that the forest became morbidly romanticized as a suicide spot in a popular novel called 'Kuroi Jukai' (roughly translated: Black Sea of Trees) where two lovers commit joint suicide together. The forest is also infamous for being very easy to get lost in as the trees grow thick and twisted on an uneven landscape and it is a massive area. This is a genuinely creepy place. Here is a very informative article on the subject for your purusal... http://lifeforaforest.com/tag/kuroi-jukai/ Anyways, back to that ghost show. There is a scene where the host told the camera guy to stop filming just in case something too inappropriate for t.v. was found and he proceeded to go further into the area. Just prior to this moment, they had found an abandoned campsite containing some personal belongings including a wallet and some other effects. This is typically a bad sign because that means the occupant may have come there to die and had since left the area to do so. It also suggests that the caretakers of the forest haven't been to this spot to clean up the area. So at the time of filming, the crew were probably the first to discover this campsite. The host seemed to suspect these things but proceeded anyway. When he returned to the cameraman, the look of fear on his face was troubling. Sickly and ashen... totally at a loss for words. They didnt say what happened, or perhaps didn't have the heart to, but it seems to me that he saw the dead body of a recent suicide. This was the first time watching this show where I saw the host showing a genuine emotion. Besides further discrediting every other episode he ever did, it was very revealing and intriguing at the same time. They headed back immediately to their base camp seemingly ready to just be done filming for the night. The act was over. They were way out of their element. While all this was going on, one guy was left alone back at base camp. He had set up a ring of cameras in a clearing to get a view from all sides of himself in the center. I think this was in part because they knew they weren't alone in the forest, having encountered some college students with headlamps that were on an exploration to find dead people... for fun. So having cameras pointed in all directions while being by yourself must have given some comfort in a somewhat hazardous situation. He was already dead silent and bug-eyed with anxious attentiveness staring into his screens looking for any sign of movement... when he saw the ghost. As he captured that footage he looked paralyzed. He just gawked. Once again, genuine emotion... fear. The video clip I posted above begins when the host and crew are returning to the base camp. The host says it was freaky out there and the guy at base camp says he caught something weird on the camera. They all watch and watch it again. It is a white misty figure, as the video description says, that seems to rise up out of the ground and sit back down until it dissappears. I believe the cast were all genuinely shocked during this filming and that the footage is also genuine. I say this not because I am easily convinced of this sort of thing, because I am not, but because I have seen this same phenomenon with my own eyes. I usually would have simply brushed this off as a camera trick or fx... but watching this ghost on film reminded me of a personal experience. Upon my first viewing of this episode, I was just as terrified as the people on the show. It validated something I had partially written off as an over-active imagination. Something broke inside my head and made me say to myself, "It was real." Having this knowledge thrust upon myself was troubling. I will explain why this had me so shaken up and why anyone reading this should be wary, especially if you've had an experience similar to mine. (The video isn't the best quality so I highly recommend watching this from a dvd or a good stream, you can judge for yourself after you see it more clearly. But for now, hear me out.) Long before I watched this episode, I was working at a little coffee shop at 225 Bush St. in San Francisco. Since I worked there the location has gone through many different companies. However, there is still a coffee shop there in case you're in the area and wanting to see it for yourself. It was a very tall, beautiful, art deco style building which is a common thing in S.F. Besides having to walk through the empty foggy streets during the small hours of morning to open shop... the store itself wasn't that weird. The basement, however, was a bit ominous. This may not seem relevant, but I want to explain a little about the San Francisco underground as I have some random first-hand encounters with it. As far as I know, I have never met anyone really knowledgeable about the underground passages beneath the streets and old buildings. Having lived and worked there my whole life, you'd think someone would have broached the subject once or twice. Maybe the lack of knowledge is because a lot of buildings built after the big earthquake just walled up the entrances and the new tenants just never saw them. It's kind of an enigma to me and it makes me believe my experiences may be somewhat unique. My late cousin was always getting involved in these weird tech start-ups in the 90's when the internet was still experimental. These companies would buy out large historic warehouses, get them up to code, and set up shop for a few years. His endeavors were always way over my head, but getting to walk around these dingy time-capsules before construction had started was interesting. This one building in particular had a large lower level that stretched underneath the sidewalk. You could see people's feet passing overhead in the ceiling where these little glass circles were laid into the street above. Another level down was the basement. This is where it got strange. It looked like a normal creepy warehouse basement. Dusty, dead rats, poor lighting... etc. While I was fascinated by each illegible scrap of century old paper, my cousin didn't seem very interested in the museum of debris. He wanted to show me something the rest of the crew hadn't seen yet. We walked around a few dark corners and he flicked a lightswitch on inside an old storage closet. Behind some mildewy boxes was a hidden door that led into some weird underground tunnels. He said he hadn't gone inside but said it had been locked up for a long time and he was the only one with the key. Not knowing much about it, he had held off exploring it, at least until he had some good flashlights. You could tell he had thought a lot about it already. The entrance was covered by a ratty piece of wood with rusty hardware and was slanted at an odd angle. It had tiny, uneven steps leading downward. The inside was dark and the clay-like cement seemed like it was shaped by hand. I saw a path that just disappeared into nothing. As I pondered into the gloom, the worst feeling came over me. Where the rest of the building was just a bit old and dirty, this room was just menacing. I couldn't explain the bad feeling... it was an overwhelming dread. Eventually my cousin asked if I was interested in checking it out with him when he got more equipment. He seemed uncomfortable asking his co-workers and was anxious about going inside alone. I said it wasn't an ideal afternoon getaway and refused. He locked it back up and we went to lunch. I forgot all about that day until a decade or so later when I was on a date in the city. I was shopping with my lady for Christmas decorations at a fancy ornament store. A friend had told me about a nice cheese shop nearby and we walked over to check it out. It had been a long day of exploring the city, and we anticipated a bit of traffic on the ride home so I decided to ask about a restroom before going back to the car. An employee pointed me in the right direction... behind a curtain at the back of the store, down some stairs to the only door on the right. As I headed down, I was about to turn the knob into the bathroom when a dark sensation washed over me. All of a sudden it felt like someone had turned a furnace on full blast. There was no vents anywhere which meant it was just my nerves. Wondering what was causing me to have such a fearful reaction, my eyes became fixated on the path in front of me. The stairs kept going down at an odd angle past the bathroom door. I followed them out of pure curiosity about my fear. It was uncanny... the odd shaped doorway, the tiny stairs. It was an entrance to the underground. It had to be. Seeing this freaked me out badly for some reason. Everything was painted nicely and they probably just modified it to have a cold cellar for wine or whatever. But, hell... I couldn't wait to get out of there. It was a very, very freaky feeling. I left the store on wobbly legs. My lady was perplexed by my behavior but I couldn't shake off the anxiety until I was well away from the store. Once we were in the car I explained what I had seen and how it reminded me of the basement in my cousin's building. We both agreed it was a little strange but we both ultimately shrugged it off and headed home. In the past, I had been prone to panic attacks and would occasionally get an eerie feeling that someone was watching me when I was all alone. I had gotten very used to these events and had adapted myself to gain control of my emotions. I would also see shadows that looked like people. These would appear in places like inside windows and dark, cluttered areas, mainly just out of sight. A part of myself had learned to just ignore it and attributed them to day dreaming and anxieties. Just don't focus on it, I'd say to myself. I would not let my emotions overcome logical sense. It was normal. But, no matter how good I became at being able to just go about my day without paying attention to these things, they still persisted. If any of this seems like something you've also experienced... please pay attention. So, at the coffee shop on Bush st. I was the opening manager. While the barista prepared coffee and pastries, I did the inventory and grabbed supplies for the rest of the day. This place was small, no office, no equipment room. Therefore, all the supplies were stored in the basement. The only way to access the basement was with the freight elevator. I'd have to ask the security guard to buzz me down and he would just silently regard me with a curt, brooding nod... and off I went. For some awful reason, every damn time, the elevator had to first go up one floor and then proceed two floors down in order to get to the basement. To this day I still think it was just the security guard having a bit of fun at my expense. Pressing an extra button out of boredom, sending me to the 2nd floor... what a goof. But then again, maybe the elevator was just wired funny. Perhaps he always pressed the right button, but it just did what it wanted to. That explanation makes me think that his somber nod was more out of concern than out of complacency. Remember, this was usually around 5am, the world was still dark and the 2nd floor was darker. Every time the elevator door opened onto that stagnant, unoccupied hallway, it felt like an infinity before the door would close again. My panic sense always perked up in those moments. In my head, over and over again, I imagined a pale corpse-like hand catching open the door at the last second, bringing me face to face with unknown horrors. Trapped and insane with fright, the unnaturally elongated arm approached... This obviously never happened, but you see how an overactive imagination works now? Happy thoughts, right? When finally proceeding to the basement, I was usually laughing at myself. The basement, which was very clean and well furnished if not a little plain, opened up to a small U-shaped room that attached to an open hallway. From there it split off for about 100 ft. in both directions. It was dimly lit only from the glowing exit signs near the elevator. This left deep stationary shadows at either end of the long halls. In order to get to the storage area I had to walk about 25 ft. into the dark hallway and turn left into an unlit room which served as an employee area: large kitchen area, locker room and some storage closets. Once I flicked on the light in that room, the gloom dissipated and I could finally see where I was going. At some point in the future, I would love to tell you how that manual light switch would randomly fail as I took a few steps into the employee lounge, thrusting me once again into complete darkness. And about the little black figure with long hair that poked it's head out from the locker room doorway and stared at me while trying to unlock the storage room. But, so many stories... so little time. What really bothered me was that first long hallway I had to walk down. Whenever I walked into that hallway I felt that someone was there with me. A real 'eyes on your back' tingling feeling. Absolutely no one was in the building at this hour, but nonetheless, I had a vivid, lurking presence of eyes watching me intently. Having a little experience with this sort of feeling and trying to stay rational, I surmised that I could have easily just been freaking myself out. I am a decent skeptic. The qualities of a good skeptic when dealing with the unknown require that they will always question and seek out the truth, while never, ever discounting the possibility of something actually being paranormal. In other words, stay open-minded but don't blindly believe either. If you maintain this mentality, the truth has a way of letting itself be known to you. As I had trained myself to do over the years, I made a conscious decision to not look directly at the spot where the feeling was coming from. I did this for weeks. Until one day... curiosity got the best of me. I couldn't shake the possibility that something ghostly was actually staring at me from the end of the shadowy hallway. It was an instinctual feeling... a survival mechanism. Every morning when I passed it to grab supplies, it nagged at me. This particular morning, I was feeling a bit brave. I just casually decided to poke at the unknown and see what I would see. So... I paused. Standing dead still, I slowly craned my head upward and looked into that shadowy corner... ...and it looked back at me. Huddled in that corner was just a simple shadow. A shadow I had seen dozens of times. I knew it's shape and it's hue. But as I stared, something primal clicked inside of me, I felt it acknowledge me. Then it moved. I stood perplexed as the huddled mass rose into a small, vaguely human figure... then a tall dark figure... then a dark figure towering all the way up to the ceiling. Fear. Just fear. I don't remember walking to the elevator doors, I only remember mashing the buttons and praying that door would close as fast as possible. My ears rang and my heart struggled to keep up with my breathing. I imagined that the door would open to the same floor over and over again. I felt the shadowy thing growing larger and larger as it came down the hall. It was beyond terrifying. The elevator worked optimally, at least my body pressed the right buttons at the right time whether or not I remembered pressing anything at the time. I emerged out of the ghastly vacuous unknown and back into the real world. Once back in the store I told my co-worker that we didn't need any cups today, but if he wanted to go get some then he was on his own. I gave him my key. I got over the incident rather quickly. Like I said before, I wasn't wholly convinced I had actually seen anything until watching that episode. The white figure in Aokigahara Forest could have been a carbon copy of my ghost. That is why I knew it was a real ghost. I tried to avoid the storage room until there were people around and the lights were turned on. I never looked into that corner again though. Months later the store got shut down for district-wide downsizing. On the last day my manager (now my close friend) told me the store was haunted. I had never told him of the wierd things that I had seen prior to that point. I almost slapped him for not telling me sooner but he explained that he didn't want to scare me, having lost employees in the past due to strange events. I got him to tell me everything. Before I started working there, his now girlfriend and another girl were closing the store. After setting the alarm, they stepped out in front of the large store windows to chat. When they glanced inside the store, a man was standing behind the cash register smiling at them. They were rightfully creeped out and called the cops. With police escort they re-entered the store. The alarm was still engaged and there was no one inside. The cameras didn't show anything either. They found nothing. The girlfriend changed stores soon after that and the other girl quit the next day. There was also the guy who's position I took over. He was eating his lunch in the employee lounge when a soda can rolled to his feet from the locker room when he was eating lunch. He figured it just rolled off of a shelf back there and he dutifully put it back on the shelf and returned to his meal. A few minutes later, the can quietly rolled back to his foot. He ended his lunch early and eventually ended his employment. My boss said that he had a similar thing happen to him in the break room. He was sensitive to spiritual things but didn't want to be, which is one of the main reasons I believe him. He also had had the lights turn off on him randomly. At that point I told him about my experiences. We became fast friends after that. This experience opened my eyes and taught me to trust my instincts. The subconscious is a powerful tool that helps you decide things without you realizing it. It can save your life. I have since recounted all of the times I had been brushed by the supernatural and found validity over and over again. I cannot with certainty convince myself otherwise anymore. This is just one story of mine. I can only imagine what awful thing lived in the tunnels my cousin found. He never spoke of it again to me. But I know he must have gone down there... This is my warning to you... Believe or don't believe, but if you have no intention on coming face to face with the unknown... please do not look outside of your peripheral vision. Do not focus in on the spot that the feeling is coming from. But if you do... if curiosity overcomes you... perhaps you'll have your own ghost story to tell. And I'll be waiting to listen to them. Be safe out there in the unknown good friends.

#App of the Week: #MightyTV finds the next show you’ll fall in #love with

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#App of the Week: #MightyTV finds the next show you’ll fall in #love with

Discovering your subsequent favourite TV present is usually a problem. Certain, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon all have built-in advice engines, however you’ll usually simply see the identical reveals advised again and again.

Plus, you’ll be able to’t inform one service that you just already watched the present on one other one other service and it was or wasn’t your factor. Certain, you would fee the present, however that’s usually not a straightforward activity should you’re utilizing a sport console or streaming media participant, because of restricted controls and primary UI for TV-based portals.

A new app referred to as MightyTV needs to unravel that drawback, and it provides a super-smart social component to the combination too.

For many individuals, their relationship with their favourite TV reveals and films is sort of as essential as relationships with different individuals, so MightyTV took the Tinder method to discovering out your pursuits.

You swipe proper or left to inform the app should you like or dislike the title, and you’ll even “Love” the title by holding to the suitable. If there’s a title you haven’t seen however thinks seems to be fascinating, you’ll be able to add it to your checklist with a faucet, or skip it for now with an upward swipe. MightyTV additionally consists of quick synopses and the trailers, if you wish to know just a little bit extra a few film earlier than including it to your checklist.

Whereas the app surfaced some nice films and TV reveals for me, the true energy comes if you add a pal to the combination. If you happen to’ve each swiped by way of just a few dozen selections, you’ll be able to “mashup” you two advice profiles to get some advised choices. So no extra scrolling by way of Netflix looking for one thing to agree on.

The one disappointment in MightyTV is that including films to your watchlist doesn’t really add them to your queue on the streaming community. As a result of every streaming platform is fairly closed off, you’ll have to search around for the really useful titles your self.

Nevertheless, MightyTV does the perfect it could with the choices obtainable in the present day. Customers can inform the app which platforms they subscribe to (proper now, MightyTV helps Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video Showtime and HBO Now), they usually can notice whether or not they’re trying to purchase or lease titles. This helps the app determine which choices to show, as a result of there’s nothing worse than discovering an excellent film or present solely to study that you just don’t pay for that streaming platform.

The MightyTV app is free, however solely obtainable on iOS proper now. If it’s time to fall in love with a brand new TV present, that is the app to search out it for you.