rob666

Come on now Jamie, chin up mate. All down to litigation and insurance costs in the end. You sound like me when I was your age when they closed the Virginia Reel...the ride of my youth. Stuff happens, at least we got a good play on it before it went. Will buy you a drink when we bump into each other in the coaster queues...again. And the wooden pallets are there every closed season, they stack the metal grids for the big fountain on them for maintainance I think.

...and the chavs don't care that you didn't get in, they have made a fiver.

No, it cancels the band for the day, stops the chavs razoring them off and selling them on for a fiver on the prom.

That and my dodgy old mans knees. I do love the view from the platform though.

...only Jamie!

The one coaster at my home park...BPB...that makes me queasy is the Revolution, I often avoid it unless I'm with mates who want to go on. By way of assisting a fellow geek in their studies, I did the ride this week, amusingly, as I was entering the ride, a punter coming down the stairs immediately chucked up behind the entrance flower bed...so it isn't only me! I don't do spinny rides any more as I'm an old git (55), coasters apart that is...I think it is the launch drop on the ride that makes me want to puke, especially with the reverse drop. Good luck with your diss, sounds better than mine.

Doing Steeplechase no handed just takes practice...you need to hold on for the brakes though. Mousey no hands is easy if you are six foot four, just wedge yourself in. Went with my wife Saturday night, fireworks, beer and coasters, heaven.

Really good trip report, BPB is my home (season pass) park, I live half an hour away, so go roughly weekly. I never hold on on the Mouse or Steeplechase Han, I treat the place more of a pub with rides...beer is an essential in Blackpool. Quite right about the Big One, it is all about the first drop, and yes, the front left seat is often the wettest on Valhalla. Shame you missed Revolution, the drop backwards is very good indeed. The BPB staff are very friendly and informal, lots have become mates over the years, because I am very tall they tend to take the p!ss out of me from miles away. Hope Infusion didn't rattle your teeth loose! Wouldn't want any issues there...

Sounds like a good outing to me! It's not like they would have hurt anyone else if they fell off.

I work outdoors gardening all year round, the only difference in winter is I tend to sit on an off-cut of carpet when it is frosty and I'm doing the weeding. The trick to keeping warm is to keep active, once you start to sit and do little physically you get cold, so keep busy. And get to the bloody dentist Han...stop putting it off. Sorry!

I prefer Lightwater valley to Thorpe Park... and I love Infusion at Blackpool.

...and there is always the ignore button...

Oh dear, my first ride at Thorpe was only two years ago, I had a lovely day on a freebie Sun ticket with a great old friend, short queues, no chavs, lovely weather and beer, but I struggle as an old git to remember what I had for breakfast, let alone my first ride! Guessing, I would say it was Colossus, and I enjoyed it, but not as much as Swarm, which was my favourite. And Jamie, don't let the buggers get you down. What they have been saying is completely unacceptable.

Having had the same, I can only say they have very special clamps and pliers to remove roots without cutting deep into the gum, I think they put a special clamping plate around the root then lever against that with complex pliers. If money is a problem you can always go to a dental training hospital, arrange a payment plan or go "Denplan", again the receptionist will help with all this. I once had a root canal treatment that got infected, that puts a broken root in the shade, it took thirteen trips to the excellent dentist to get it fixed, but I didn't lose the tooth. The Valium injection was indeed amazing, absolutely brilliant cocktail of drugs really I think, you keep repeating yourself again and again without realising it to your "appropriate adult" for the two or three hours after the treatment, apparently I told my wife about fifty times that I couldn't eat solids for 24 hours. And one last piece of advice... STOP FIRKING ABOUT IN YOUR GOB WITH BLOODY PLIERS. Apologies for shouting, but this is the Rant topic after all.

Having cured my fear of dentists (and only wish I knew how so I could sell the cure for millions), I can only offer my empathy to you Han 30. Been there, done all of that. Be brave and get a recommendation for a good dentist from a friend or family member, someone you know and trust. Take that person with you to see the dentist's receptionist, and explain all, they will have heard it all before, and will be gentle and kind. Make an appointment for the dreaded deed, and ask if they can give you a Valium injection in the waiting room before you go in to the dentists chair. Half an hour later you will probably be laughing and crying with relief at how easy and painless it all was. Good luck and go for it.