pool

Nicey Nash-Betts has only ever lived in Los Angeles — and she’s proud of that.

“I’m an OG Angeleno,” says the Academy Award-winning actress who’s lived all over the county, from Compton to Palmdale. When I ask her why she’s stayed, she says, “The weather.” And also: “My family is here and I feel like as a whole, people who are from L.A. are a lot more down to earth. It’s the transplants who come here with some weird energy. But the people who are from L.A. are just lovely.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Starting Tuesday, Nash-Betts will star in Ryan Murphy’s new Hulu show, “All’s Fair,” which follows a crew of female divorce attorneys as they leave their male-dominated firm to launch their own practice. It’s a role she almost didn’t take.

“I was just coming off of doing ‘Grotesquerie,’ so I was like, “Ooo. It sounds like it might be a lot work,” says Nash-Betts, whose credits include “Claws,” “The Rookie: Feds” and “When They See Us.” “So I waited a little bit and then I slipped in at the last minute and was like ‘OK, I’m in!’ “

She joins a star-studded glamorous cast of badass women including Sarah Paulson, Kim Kardashian, Glenn Close, Naomi Watts and Teyana Taylor. What was it like working with them?

“We don’t just genuinely like each other, but we have respect for each other,” Nash-Betts says. “And when you respect somebody’s time, their talent, their effort, you know that you’ll always have one of your sisters to lean on that day even if you’re going through something in your personal life.”

When Nash-Betts isn’t on set, she can be found bopping around the city with her “hersband” singer-actor Jessica Betts, whom she married in 2020, and spending time with her three adult kids. Her perfect Sunday in L.A. involves hitting up the farmers market, getting a couple’s massage and ending the night in the same way she did when she won her first Emmy in 2024.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

7:30 a.m.: A slow morning

It depends on how early I want to get to the farmers market, so I may wake up around 7:30 a.m. and then just slow roll the day. Make my spouse a cup of coffee. We’re not big eaters in the morning. Occasionally I will get up and make an omelet with all the things and some smothered potatoes, and bring it upstairs on a cart with some juice. Now, I’m telling you the truth. “Baby, am I telling the truth?” [Looks back and screams out to Betts in another room].

9:30 a.m. Get my essentials at the farmers market

I’d grab a shower and say, “Let’s get dressed and go outside, and see what the world has for us today.” I love to go by the farmers market. It’s where we get all of our peppers and vegetables. We like the eggs, the fresh pressed juices and we get our dog snacks from there. I like to go to the farmers market on Saturdays at the Commons in Calabasas, but if I’m going on a Sunday, it’s the one in Westlake. I just think that it’s a one-stop shop for everything that we’re looking for and typically the vendors are really kind. I don’t know if that’s because they want you to buy their stuff or that’s just who they are, but either way, I’ll take it.

And every now and then, I might find a little bop, a little sundress, a little something to throw on, drop the things back off and then head down into the city.

Noon: Stroll around the Grove

If the weather is great, we’ll take something out of the garage that’s a convertible because there’s nothing like the L.A. sunshine. Then depending on what time we can get spa appointments, we might go to the Grove first and walk around. I like the shops that are there. Sometimes you might get a little sweet treat when you’re walking around, but you can always impromptu decide you want to go to the movies and push your plans a little later. It’s just centrally located and it has all of the good things that I like.

2 p.m. Couples massage and a cocktail

Next, we’d head to the Four Seasons for a couple’s massage and a cocktail. Sometimes we’ll go to the Four Seasons Westlake. Sometimes we’ll go to the Four Seasons on Doheny [Drive], but we like to get a spa room, which is in the back. It’s like a suite with a fireplace and a bed in there. You can relax. You have your own private plunge pool and we get our services in the suite. We both always get deep tissue.

5 p.m.: Thai food for dinner

Afterward, we’d drive down to Farmhouse Thai in West Adams because we love it there and we have come to love the owner. I always get the crab fried rice, the whole cripsy fish, the cup of ramen noodles with the short rib on top and spring rolls. That’s the standard order. But if I don’t go out to dinner, I will make crabs every weekend. So sometimes, my kids will come over and eat. If I get to lay my eyes on them during the weekend, that’s always a good time.

9 p.m.: Skinny dipping and champagne

When we get back, we are definitely getting in the pool. Skinny dipping and champagne is how we’re going to end the day. We do this often. Even when I won my Emmy for “Dahmer,” people asked, “How will you celebrate?” and I said, “Skinny dipping and champagne.” And it just so happened, we found a hotel downtown that had a full-sized swimming pool inside the room, so there’s pictures on my Instagram of us in that pool, skinny dipping and drinking champagne. I think that night, we were probably drinking Perignon.

11 p.m.: Hang in the pool until I get sleepy

If I have to get up early on Monday morning, then I might try to lay down around 11 p.m., but if I don’t have to get up and be anywhere, it’ll maybe be around 12:30 or 1 a.m.

One couple were left seriously disappointed when they arrived at their four-star all-inclusive hotel in Greece for 10 days and claimed the meals were so bad, ‘I wouldn’t even serve the food to a dog’

A seething couple who spent more than £2K on an all-inclusive holiday claim their hotel meals “looked like dog food” and the swimming pool was “disgusting.”

Erin Wells, 24, and Jordan Evans, 25, booked a 10-night stay at a four-star hotel in Crete, Greece, through easyJet Holidays to celebrate their birthdays. They jetted off with excitement on 28 September after seeing a slew of positive reviews and paid a total of £2,218.

However, the couple’s holiday soon turned into a nightmare. They said they encountered issues with their room and the hotel facilities, including the meals being served, which they claimed were “unmarked meat” with “grim desserts”.

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Erin, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, recalled: “We went down for lunch and saw nothing was labelled, there was just unmarked meat.

“Later on into the holiday, I went up to one of the chefs and asked what the meat was, and she opened the container, picked up a piece of the meat, ate it and said, ‘Well, I think it’s chicken’.”

The 24-year-old claimed: “Nothing was marked, so you didn’t know what you were eating. They were just sat out at room temperature. Nothing about them was appealing. They were inedible.

“The food as a whole was just disgusting. They look like dog food. It’s not even like they were trying to make the food look presentable. I wouldn’t even serve the food to a dog.”

Left severely disappointed by the food on offer, the couple splashed out an additional £600 on meals away from the hotel, despite being on an all-inclusive package. Erin explained: “We only ate at the hotel a couple times.”

But the food wasn’t the only problem. While attempting to relax on the sun loungers around the hotel pool, the couple noticed they were “mouldy”. Erin claimed: “I didn’t get in the pool once because it was so disgusting. There was mould all around the side of the pool and sunbeds.

“We were there for 10 days and never saw anyone clean that pool. I can’t believe they’re still open, it was just disgusting. If I’d got in, I’d have probably got ill.”

In addition, they also encountered issues with their room when it apparently flooded from the shower. Erin shared: “When we arrived, we just went straight to our room because we were just so tired. It wasn’t until the next morning that we noticed things.

“That morning, I noticed our shower kept flooding. As soon as you had a shower, the water would leak out into the room.

“I thought the issue was just with our room, but it wasn’t until we started talking to other couples there that we realised all of the rooms flooded.”

Erin labelled their getaway a “holiday from hell” and claimed the hotel was a “health hazard” due to the issues they experienced. Despite seeing numerous positive reviews online, she felt that the hotel listing was “seriously misleading” and the photos were “so far from what it’s actually like there”.

An easyJet holidays spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear Erin didn’t have the holiday experience she expected. We are in contact with Erin to offer a gesture of goodwill and understand what went wrong so that we can investigate these directly with our hotel partner.”

THE world is full of amazing places to go for a dip, but one spot really is a ‘hidden’ gem – as you can swim underneath a castle.

The Château d’Urspelt, in the heart of the Éislek region of Luxembourg, is a luxurious hotel within a former castle.

But below it is the ultimate surprise – a pool designed in the shape of a sunken grotto.

Guests can step into the pools, with different rock-style formations across the walls and ceilings, as well as plants draping down.

And the indulgent experience doesn’t stop there as the spa also has six treatment rooms, a relaxation room, two hammams, two saunas, a whirlpool and a fitness room.

After enjoying the different spa areas, guests can put their feet up and relax with a cup of tea in the tea room.

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Access to the wellness area costs €60 (£52.36) per person, or it is free when you book a massage or treatment.

As for the castle-turned hotel, which opened back in 2008, the rooms are equally as decadent as the spa experience.

There are a variety of different room types to choose from, with 57 rooms and suites.

Continuing with the theme of grandeur, in the castle’s historic cellars – which were dug out by hand from the original basement – is the U Lounge Bar.

When workers were digging out the basement, they also discovered a well, which has since been exposed.

The bar serves a range of drinks including spirits, wines and cocktails.

Alternatively, guests can head to The Library for a cosy and inviting atmosphere.

In the morning, guests are invited to head behind the reception desk to reach a sprawling buffet breakfast, with homemade jams, freshly baked cakes and honey produced by bees on site.

The outdoor pool, which overlooks the entire estate, even has its own bar, serving up refreshing drinks and light snacks.

In the warmer weather, guests can enjoy the indoor-outdoor Patio or for a more refined experience, The Dining Room.

Otherwise the château is also home to an orchard, three running and walking routes and even electric scooters for hire.

Rooms at the hotel cost from around £147 per night and the hotel is located around an hour from Luxembourg Airport.

Travellers looking to explore the surrounding area won’t be short of options either, as the château is close to many charming towns.

For example, 30km away from the château is Vianden Castle, which was built between the 11th and 14th centuries.

In fact, it was named as one of the 20 most beautiful castles in the world, by CNN Travel.

And each year the castle hosts a medieval festival in August, with duelling knights and jugglers.

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There’s also a UK castle that costs less than a hotel stay in London with an indoor swimming pool, tropical gardens and a private beach.

Plus, you can stay at a fairytale English castle once home to famous king – with tower suites and the UK’s largest four-poster bed.

AN outdoor pool is the centrepiece of any self-respecting holiday resort.

Sunshine, sunloungers and kids trying to sink each other’s inflatables.

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But this was no ordinary swimming pool. This was a NATURAL pool — nestled in the Shropshire countryside.

No nasty chemicals in this water. It’s split into two zones — one side for swimming and the other filled with reeds and water lilies.

The swimming area has clean edges just like a regular pool, but the water is naturally filtered by sunlight and the plants next to it.

The normal electric-blue hue and chlorine pong we’ve swam in all our lives is gone.

This is just clear water, like swimming in a mountain stream.

Which was appropriate as we were staying at Love2Stay glamping resort, within sight of the River Severn.

It offers 36 glamping units, including safari lodges, and 120 camping pitches, all set on a gently sloping hillside just outside Shrewsbury.

Its Biotop natural pool is one of only a handful open to the public in the UK.

And there’s also a lake with paddleboarding and kayaking, archery lessons, arts and crafts, gym, assault course and a nature trail.

We stayed in one of the site’s glamping barns. Outside, each has a private hot tub, firepit with starter bag of logs, giant hammock and beanbags.

Inside there’s a well-equipped open-plan kitchen, double bedroom and upstairs mezzanine for the kids to sleep on.

We were treated to a luxury food hamper on arrival, which comes with breakfast and dinner included.

Victorian fair

And we’re talking proper full English with fresh local ingredients and giant field mushrooms for the veggies.

There’s no shop on site — Sainsbury’s is a five-minute drive away — but the cafe serves hearty breakfasts and wood-fired pizzas in the evening.

You could spend the whole weekend without leaving the park but that would mean missing out on Shrewsbury’s medieval lanes.

We boarded the Sabrina boat, a charming 45-minute cruise that loops the River Severn. With tea, coffee and a wonderful commentary, it’s the best way to see the town’s historic riverside.

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Bridges swoop overhead as you admire Charles Darwin’s alma mater Shrewsbury School.

While the naturalist is widely seen as Shrewsbury’s most famous son, don’t forget T-Pau’s Carol Decker, who lived above the nearby boathouse.

And the beautiful green spaces surrounding it were transformed by TV gardening legend Percy Thrower.

Just down the road lies the Ironbridge Gorge, which has been transformed into the Valley of Invention and a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Here the Industrial Revolution was forged at the Coalbrookdale furnaces, and the gorge is now home to six museums.

The Iron Bridge, opened in 1781, still stands as a marvel of its time when it became the world’s first bridge made entirely of cast iron.

We took a circular walk up the side of the gorge, which gave us spectacular views of the valley.

Then we headed to Blists Hill Victorian Town. It’s a living film set, a cross between a Western and Great Expectations.

Enormous ironwork and industrial relics from its blast- furnace past sit alongside a lovingly recreated Victorian High Street.

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Staff in period clothing are working as they would have 150 years ago, making candles, baking bread and hammering iron at the blacksmith’s.

If you want your kids to know what life was really like before wifi, you can enrol them in the Victorian school. A stern Miss gives period lessons with a stick and hoop.

There’s a fish-and-chips shop wrapping cod in the village newspaper, and even a traditional Victorian boozer — complete with a sing-song knees-up in the afternoon.

And there’s a full Victorian fairground, with steam-powered rides, coconut shy and swingboats.

If you like your Victoriana with even more Clarkson’s Farm, Acton Scott Heritage Farm has reopened after a five-year break.

In its barns and yards, you can meet the wool-spinners and press Shropshire apples. The schoolroom is now a cafe serving local produce.

Back at Love2Stay, we cranked the firepit to industrial temperatures for marshmallows and mapped out our expeditions into the Shropshire Hills to see the ponies on Long Mynd.

It’s perfect for families who like a touch of luxury when they’re in the great outdoors.

It’s getting close.

Chaminade Prep in West Hills expects to begin demolition soon of the 4.8 acres of buildings it acquired in 2018 that will become its.sports fields. Next year construction will begin on a baseball field, pool and training fields that could be completed by 2027, according to athletic director Todd Borowski. Both projects need final approval from the city before work can begin.

Buildings from the old shopping center have been abandoned and the property is fenced.

Chaminade has phases planned for construction that will include a pedestrian bridge to link its main campus across the street with the new fields. A new softball field will replace the current baseball field. There will be new campus classrooms and a new school entrance.

Here’s a video from the school explaining all the building that will soon begin.

Chaminade is the second Mission League school adding new sports fields. Harvard-Westlake is scheduled to open its River Park complex next year that includes a gym, fields, pool and parking.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has paid tribute to former World Nineball Pool champion Mika Immonen.

Immonen passed away at the age of 52 on Sunday after a long battle with cancer.

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Tributes poured in for the Iceman, who became a legend on the pool circuit.

O’Sullivan has now opened up about his bond with Immonen, who would stay at his house during his time in the UK.

The Rocket took to Instagram to say: “So sad to hear of the passing of my friend Mika, someone I did not see enough of but thought a great deal of.

“Stayed at my house on times in UK and enjoyed our runs in the forest, one of the greatest pool players of the generation, an honour to share a pool table with him but also the personal times together I will never forget.

“Sadly missed, devastated today.”

Immonen became the only Finnish star to win the World Nineball Championship in 2001.

He also won back-to-back US Open Pool Championship titles in 2008 and 2009.

The Iceman established himself as a pool icon with his appearances at the Mosconi Cup over the years.

He represented Team Europe on 15 occasions – the second-most of any European.

Immonen was named MVP for his performance in the 2008 competition.

Watching 6-foot-6, 220-pound Connor Ohl of Newport Harbor High play water polo is similar to a Great White Shark sighting. You’re stunned and in awe.

He’s water polo’s version of a speeding dolphin in the pool, able to accelerate so fast with his long arms and powerful legs that few can stay with him. He won the Southern Section Division 1 50-yard freestyle title last spring and broke 20 seconds in a league meet (19.79), so beware to those who think he’s not as fast as advertised.

Then comes his size and strength. He could be a football player because physicality comes naturally. Being the youngest of three water polo playing brothers, it was sink or swim in the Ohl household growing up in Greenwich, Conn. One brother plays for Stanford, where Connor will soon join him. Another plays at Princeton.

Connor moved to Orange County last year for his junior season so he could be part of what he calls “the water polo hub of America.”

This past summer, he was the youngest player on the USA junior national team that earned a silver medal at the under-20 world championships in Croatia.

“It was such a crazy experience,” he said.

First there was playing the host team in front of screaming fans in an indoor pool. “Oh my God, It was so loud,” he said. “They had drummers. You couldn’t hear yourself think.”

Then there was playing Serbia, known for its physicality. He was a boy going against men. “It’s insane,” he said. “Some are built like refrigerators.”

What Ohl learned from his international experience will help him immensely during a high school season in which Newport Harbor is the defending Southern Section champion and heavily favored to win again. The Sailors are off to a 6-0 start.

Ben Liechty, Peter Castillo, Connor Ohl and Gavin Appeldorn, from left, represented Newport Harbor at the Under-20 World Championships in Croatia.

(Courtesy of Newport Harbor water polo)

“Going from high school water polo to the junior level is like night and day,” he said. “These juniors have been playing basically their whole life — Spain, Hungary, Croatia. They worship water polo. It’s made me a lot more physical. Coming back to high school, it’s made me more confident to defend and control people with my strength and size.”

With the arrival of the Anderson brothers, Tyler and Sean, from JSerra, Newport Harbor starts out as perhaps the best team in the country.

“We could be a football team with as big as we are in water polo,” Ohl said.

Corona del Mar, JSerra, Oaks Christian and Harvard-Westlake hope to offer resistance.

Ohl is the latest Southern California product who can’t wait to represent the USA in the Olympic Games, which happen to be coming to Los Angeles in 2028. The Dodd brothers, Ryder and Chase, from JSerra and Huntington Beach, played in the 2024 Olympic Games.

It will be one of the toughest teams to make because of the experience and depth with so many players back from 2024.

“My chances are as good as anyone else,” Ohl said. “That’s my dream. I just want to represent my country at the Olympics.”

Meanwhile, if you want to see someone who can swim as fast as a fish, check out a Newport Harbor water polo match. That’s Connor Ohl, the speeding bullet.

This article contains spoilers for the finale of Prime Video’s “The Girlfriend.”

After reading the pilot for “The Girlfriend,” Robin Wright could see how the entire series would unfold. She was initially approached to direct the first episode, but she was so entranced by the adaptation of Michelle Frances’ 2017 novel she came on board not just as a director, but as an executive producer.

And when it came to casting Laura, a fierce matriarch committed to protecting her son, Daniel, from his new girlfriend, everyone she pictured in the role was unavailable.

“My dream was Tilda Swinton,” Wright says, speaking from the Ham Yard Hotel in London alongside her co-star Olivia Cooke, whose Prime Video series premiered Wednesday. “The time crunch was getting narrower, so Jonathan Cavendish of Imaginarium [Productions] finally said, ‘Would you consider playing Laura? You know her so well.’ What interested me was expanding on each character and developing this show beyond the book, which was already very full and rich.”

Cooke was Wright’s first choice to play Cherry, Daniel’s working-class girlfriend, who may or may not have suspicious motives and a violent past. The actors hopped on a Zoom call at the end of 2023 and were immediately on the same page about the thriller series. Both were intrigued by the idea that each episode depicted the characters’ individual takes on the events, forcing viewers to frequently change their allegiance about who is right. Is Cherry deviously trying to push Laura aside for better access to Daniel, or is Laura paranoid and overbearing?

Cherry (Olivia Cooke), Daniel’s working-class girlfriend. (Christopher Raphael / Prime)

Laura (Robin Wright) is suspicious of Cherry and her motives. (Christopher Raphael / Prime)

“I was enticed by the dual perspectives and delving more into that reality because that is how we operate,” Wright says. “That is the human condition. You perceive [something] in a different way than I do. We’re all a hero of our own story and of our own perspective, but we could be the villain in someone else’s perspective. That’s what happens with Cherry and Laura. Jealousy turns into a power struggle.”

“It’s really fun to dial up the maliciousness and the duplicitous nature of a woman,” Cooke adds. “To play all these different sides and all these different faculties. And both our characters contain them all.”

“It was almost like having the variety pack of being a female,” Wright continues. “It’s easy for the viewer to go back and forth, where you’ll be in favor of this one and then not in favor. And it’s always rooted in true emotion. Wherever Laura or Cherry is coming from, that’s her truth. That’s her story.”

“You’ve always got to champion the characters you’re playing in order to play them honestly,” Cooke says. “I completely understood where Cherry was coming from. A lot of that is lack and fear and scarcity. Not having a parachute or a safety net, and having to constantly strive and move forward. She’s a survivor and she’s scrappy, and she will be the quickest and most ferocious to her own defense.”

The conflict between Laura and Cherry aggressively ratchets up over the course of six episodes. After a rock climbing accident that puts Daniel (Laurie Davidson) into a coma, Laura convinces Cherry that he’s died. Cherry later threatens Laura with a knife — or does she? Cooke says she loved “having the excuse to go f— feral.”

“What’s fun about Laura’s perspective is Cherry seems completely unhinged and that there’s a real malevolent undertone to her behavior,” Cooke says. “But in Cherry’s perspective, it’s all coming from a place of just scrambling. She’s tried to put her best foot forward when she meets Laura for the first time and she’s tried to cover up her past a little bit by saying the odd white lie. And a mum sniffs that out immediately.”

“What’s fun about Laura’s perspective is Cherry seems completely unhinged and that there’s a real malevolent undertone to her behavior,” Olivia Cooke says. “But in Cherry’s perspective, it’s all coming from a place of just scrambling.”

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Cooke describes Cherry as an “underdog trying to claw herself up.” “I want the audience to really be of two minds about her,” she says. “And women usually have to be so buttoned up.

“It’s always, ‘You can’t say that or don’t emote that,’” Wright chimes in. “This gave us an opportunity to do what a lot of women would like to say or do, but they can’t. You always have to be a diplomat. This was about being a human being. Women are very layered individuals. We can do 16 things at once. That’s why we can carry children for nine months and then raise them. I wanted to show all of those colors of a woman.”

The role gave Cooke the chance to showcase her range and expressiveness.

“Even just for my own personal life, it felt really cathartic to be able to be angry and be able to scream and be a person who wears their emotions so closely to the surface,” Cooke adds. “Cherry is effervescent. It’s always there waiting to come out. She’s so reactive. And I’m hypervigilant for the warning signs before I react. This was like a rage room.”

In the tumultuous finale, Laura drugs Daniel to keep him away from Cherry. After Cherry breaks into Laura’s house, the duo find themselves in a physical altercation in the basement swimming pool. An addled Daniel discovers them fighting and jumps in to protect Cherry, accidentally holding his mother under the water for too long. The immediate interpretation is that Laura dies at the hand of her son, which is what the actors shot on set in London last year.

“There was an aerial shot of mom dead in his arms,” Wright says. “It was beautiful. He was holding her and he looks at Cherry and mom was dead in his arms in the way I had held him in Spain. But the [producers] cut it out because it showed that she had died.”

Laurie Davidson, who plays Daniel, and Robin Wright in a scene from “The Girlfriend.”

(Christopher Raphael / Prime)

The decision to have Daniel accidentally kill (or not kill) Laura resulted from a “big discussion,” as Wright puts it. The obvious conclusion was to have Cherry purposefully murder Laura, but Wright pushed against that.

“I said, ‘It needs to be the son that kills his mother because he will never get out of her clutches when she’s alive,’” Wright says. “He’s going to be in the middle of this war zone for the rest of his life. When he comes down [to the pool], he’s in a stupor. He’s almost hallucinating. When he dives in the pool and he sees [Laura] trying to drown his girlfriend, he doesn’t know what’s happened prior to that moment, which is she’s tried to kill mom. He has no sense of time and space because he’s under the influence.”

Cooke says she didn’t play the scene as Cherry wanting Laura to die. “Maybe people will read it as that, but I didn’t,” Cooke says. “She knows it’s gone too far. That’s what I played in the moment, shouting at Daniel to snap out of it. But, you know, she did get the house.”

Shooting the pool altercation was a challenging day. Much of the series was filmed in a private house in London’s St. John’s Wood neighborhood, which had an actual swimming pool in the basement. Although the pool was supposedly heated, the actors didn’t experience any warmth.

“It was f— hard,” Wright recalls. “For me, it was like waterboarding. People think, ‘Oh, my God, so much fun to act in those scenes.’ No, it’s not. It’s really tough. We were all drowned rats and freezing cold.”

Still, Cooke says it was enjoyable to go to such intense limits emotionally.

“It’s fun being able to go to the very edge of your emotional capacity in a very safe, fun, embracing environment,” she says. “We wouldn’t have been able to do that in the pool, and be able to try and murder each other and then laugh, if it wasn’t built on trust and love. … These characters do very heightened, crazy stuff, but it’s still seeped in honesty and naturalism, which you need in order to go on this journey.”

Robin Wright recalls how difficult shooting the pool scene was: “For me, it was like waterboarding.” Nevertheless, Olivia Cooke says it was “fun being able to go to the very edge of your emotional capacity.” (Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

At the end of the finale, Cherry and Daniel move into Laura’s mansion with the blessing of Daniel’s father, Howard (Waleed Zuaiter). Daniel discovers a voicemail from Laura recounting how Cherry’s mother, Tracey (Karen Henthorn), warned of her daughter’s malicious motives. But while Daniel is clearly in trouble, Wright says you’re not necessarily meant to interpret it as Laura being completely out of the picture.

“We wanted to leave it a little bit open,” she says. “You see the pregnant family living in the Sanderson house and mommy’s gone. Could Laura still be alive? Did she really die? Has she just been shunned to the priory?”

Wright says they wanted to leave it to the audience to decide what happened.

“But Daniel is awakened,” she adds. “If Laura is alive, he could go back to her and say, ‘I now believe you and now I’m with a crazy woman and afraid she’s going to kill me in my sleep.’ There are many iterations where it can go if there is a Season 2.”

As of this interview, no announcement has been made about another season. Cooke, who also stars as Alicent Hightower in “House of the Dragon,” says she would have to get permission from HBO to be part of a concurrent episodic series. Plus, as Wright notes, it’s all about the algorithm. “You always have to wait and see if it’s a semi-success,” Wright says. She adds, turning to Cooke, “If there is a Season 2, I think you should kill the cat in Episode 1, gut it and wear it as a hat.”

For Wright, that’s part of the appeal of being an executive producer — she could brainstorm all the unhinged things that could happen between the characters. She loved coming up with story ideas and character backgrounds, and helping to sculpt the ending, which differs from the novel, was pure joy.

“This was my first opportunity to develop something from the ground up,” says Robin Wright, who executive produces and is a director on the series. “I took a bunch of personal stories, things that I’ve heard, and threw them in there.”

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

“This was my first opportunity to develop something from the ground up,” Wright says. “I took a bunch of personal stories, things that I’ve heard, and threw them in there. Like Laura kissing her son on the lips — that came from a friend of mine. And Laura spraying Cherry with her perfume in a shop and saying, ‘Daniel loves this,’ came from someone on set. Things were constantly percolating.”

Wright directed the first three episodes, setting the visual and thematic tone for the series, while Andrea Harkin took on the latter three. The actor says there was a real freedom on set, which was helped by the rehearsals the cast was able to do before filming. She made it a point to always give the actors their own take for each scene.

“Generally, I’d use the take where they went for a free-for-all,” she says. “You get locked in a box as actors. We all do. You pick a choice and you stick with that choice. But when you throw that out the window, the s— that comes out of actors is amazing. That’s what’s so beautiful about being able to direct and being an actor myself. I love watching how it evolves and the light that comes out of them and the emotion that’s brought to the surface.”

“I’ve never acted opposite my director before,” Cooke adds. “The chain of command was so short. Robin was acting with me, but also watching to see what I do and changing her performance to my reaction, which was amazing. It makes it very alive and kinetic.”

Ultimately, it’s up to the viewer to decide whether Laura or Cherry is the villain of “The Girlfriend.” And, as Wright says, it’s simply a matter of how you see things.

“You as the viewer get to decide: Is there a truth, or is it just subjective?” she says. “Because it is subjective for each of our perspectives and we own it. It happened the way you personally know it happened. But the truth lies somewhere in between.”

Sept. 9 (UPI) — A Miami area condo was showing visible signs of structural strains weeks before it collapsed and killed 98 people, federal investigators revealed Tuesday.

The update from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) comes four years after the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers building in Surfside, Fla. The incident drew national headlines, leaving questions about what caused the 12-story building to suddenly fall apart.

NIST investigators determined that the collapse likely started in the building’s pool deck instead of the structure of the tower, aligning with preliminary findings into the cause of the incident. Co-lead investigator Glenn Bell said that “it is more likely that the failure started in a pool deck slab-column connection,” according to a news release.

Investigators used computer simulations, large-scale structural testing and signs that the building was in distress weeks before the collapse, according to the release. Those signs included a sliding glass door that had come off its frame, a horizontal crack in a planter wall and a vertical gate shifting so much that it became jammed and could not be opened.

The signs of distress were concentrated in a small area of the pool deck and the street-level parking lot, both of which began to give way at least seven minutes before the rest of the tower collapsed, the release stated. Additionally, a leak in part of the garage ceiling that was cracked had undergone many repairs and became significantly worse a day before the collapse, investigators found.

Investigators are fine-tuning their analysis of the role steel reinforcement corrosion, concrete shrinkage and shoddy construction joints in the pool deck slab had in the collapse. They intend to complete their technical work by the end of the year and draft reports on their findings. A significant update on the investigation is expected by spring 2026.

Previously, Surfside Mayor Charles W. Burkett suggested a sinkhole caused the collapse. Lawyers for victims also argued that construction on a neighboring luxury building destabilized the condos.

The collapse destroyed 55 condominium units and left the remaining 136 units to be demolished. In 202, a Miami Judge approved a $1 billion settlement to surviving family members, condo owners and people injured.

A SUSPECTED murder victim found in a pool of blood at the infamous Burning Man festival has been identified as a 37-year-old Russian.

Vadim Kruglov was discovered on Saturday night inside the festival grounds in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.

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On Wednesday, organisers confirmed his identity and said they were working with the Pershing County sheriff’s office, which is leading the investigation.

In a statement, Burning Man said: “Our hearts go out to Vadim’s family and friends, and we grieve the loss of a community member.

“Burning Man Project is doing everything we can to assist the sheriff’s investigation so the perpetrator can be caught and brought to justice.”

The festival added that it was donating to a programme allowing witnesses to share information anonymously and urged anyone with knowledge to come forward.

Friends said Kruglov had been missing for four days before his body was found.

His pal Sofiia Shcherbakova wrote on Instagram: “His tent and belongings were left at camp, but he never returned.”

She later confirmed his death, calling him a “true hero of Burning Man”.

“He poured his soul into our community: building the camp, creating an art installation, always ready to help others, and being kind and responsive to everyone,” she wrote.

“His energy and contribution will forever remain part of the Burn’s history.”

In a follow-up post, Shcherbakova said she was raising funds to bring his body back to his hometown of Omsk, Siberia.

“Now we want to honour his memory and support his family,” she said.

“We are raising funds to bring him home to Omsk, so that his parents can say their last goodbye and lay him to rest with his loved ones.”

As of Thursday, the GoFundMe had collected $4,063 of its $15,000 goal.

The sheriff’s office has condemned the killing, calling for information that could lead to the arrest of “any person who would commit such a heinous crime against another human being”.

They have so far declined to release further details about how Kruglov died.

Burning Man — famous for its giant effigies, art installations and eccentric camps — attracts tens of thousands of revellers every year, including tech billionaires and celebrities.

About 70,000 people from 102 countries attended this year’s gathering.

The festival was already rocked last week by intense dust storms that left some attendees injured.

It also saw the shock birth of a baby in an RV after a woman who did not know she was pregnant went into labour on site.

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Jess Breach, who is one score away from 50 international tries, retains her spot after two tries against the USA, as does impressive outside centre Megan Jones.

Jones is joined by Gloucester-Hartpury’s Jade Shekells in the midfield, with Emma Sing named at full-back.

In the forwards, lock Lilli Ives Campion and flanker Abi Burton are set for World Cup debuts after being named to start.

Maddie Feaunati starts at number eight against the nation her father Zak played for 13 times.

Prop Mackenzie Carson could make her first appearance from the bench after being injured in this year’s Six Nations.

World Rugby women’s player of the year Ellie Kildunne, who starred with two tries against the United States, is included on a strong bench that includes last week’s starting half-backs Natasha Hunt and Zoe Harrison.

Samoa, who are fully amateur and ranked 15th in the world, lost their opening game 73-0 to Australia.

Given England played two different teams across this year’s Women’s Six Nations and still won a fourth consecutive Grand Slam, they are likely to record a big scoreline despite the wholesale changes.

A bonus-point victory will put Mitchell’s side in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stages.

Summer is here, and with it comes the annual desire to pack up and unplug somewhere, anywhere, else. But sandy beaches, far-flung tropical locales and mountain escapes often come with throngs of tourists and inflated pricing.

Then there’s Palm Springs, where crowds empty out in the summer and luxury hotel prices dip to year-round lows. Before you shrug off summer in the desert, consider this: The Coachella Valley is picturesque all year, most restaurants have wide-open availability and keeping cool is easy when all you do is bop between the pool and blissful A/C.

And unlike pricey beachfront resorts, the best hotels around Palm Springs are charging a fraction of their typical nightly rate. Five-star spots like the Ritz Carlton, Rancho Mirage or the Parker Palm Springs, for example, have dropped prices, and some properties, like the atmospheric Casa Cody, host seasonal activities like dive-in movies after dark.

The pricing below is accurate as of publishing but may change at any time. Prices also may not include additional charges, like resort fees. Most deals are available throughout September, but check the fine print and be aware of minimum stay and age requirements.

Whether for a week or quick weekend jaunt, the desert beckons, and in the weeks and months to come, it won’t cost as much as usual.

Brits on holidays this summer have been warned not to make an easy poolside mistake or they could risk facing some pretty hefty fees if things go wrong

There’s nothing quite like cooling off in the pool after basking in the sunshine while on holiday. However, Brits are being warned to stay vigilant if they step away from their sunlounger, or they could risk some hefty fees.

A travel insurance expert has warned that there are some easy mistakes we all make that quickly invalidate your travel insurance, meaning that if things do go wrong it’s likely your claim will be rejected.

One of those is stepping away from your bag, even if you can see it from the pool and feel like your surroundings are fairly secure.

“Stepping away from your bag for even a few minutes can invalidate your claim,” warns Niraj Mamtora, Director at Forum Insurance. “People think a quick dip or a trip to the bar is harmless, but from an insurance perspective, you’ve left those items unguarded. That’s classed as negligence. Most policies will state clearly that unattended belongings in public areas are not covered, regardless of how short the time or how secure you felt.”

READ MORE: Brit couple furious over ‘unfair’ sunbed rules after hotel issues stern warningREAD MORE: Europe’s ‘sunniest beach’ has golden sands, crystal waters and flights from £17.99

It’s not just about insurance either. Hotels are increasingly cracking down on people who leave their belongings unattended for a few hours, in a bid to fight back against sunbed wars. This has included introducing time limits on how long staff will leave an unattended lounger before picking up the belongings and taking them to reception, where holidaymakers can retrieve them.

‘Sunbed wars’ see people frantically rushing in the early hours of the morning to leave their towels on sunbeds to claim these for the day. However, tensions rise when people do this but don’t return for hours at a time, leaving others unable to enjoy the pool despite there being empty beds.

READ MORE: Sleep expert reveals when you should try to stay awake on flights to beat jet lagREAD MORE: Holiday warning for Brits as selfie mistake could land you with £100,000 fine

Just recently, holidaymakers were spotted using a sneaky tactic before the pool staff had even laid out the loungers, with other tourists slamming the “pathetic” behaviour. Meanwhile, one British couple was recently livid when they returned to a stern warning from hotel staff after they’d left their loungers for half an hour, claiming that other holidaymakers had been away from their sunbeds for longer but not received any backlash.

If you are going to step away from your sun lounger, you may want to leave your valuables back in your room – but even then, Niraj warns that you’ll want to make sure they’re in the safe.

“Valuables not stored in a locked safe are rarely covered,” explains the insurance expert. “If you leave your passport, jewellery, or expensive tech out on the bedside table or tucked into a suitcase, and they’re taken, your insurer may argue you failed to secure them properly.

“The policy wording often requires that high-value items be locked in a hotel safe when not in use. It’s a small effort that makes a big difference to whether you’re covered.”

Have you had issues with sunbed wars on your holiday? Email us at [email protected].

The historic Griffith Park Pool, built in 1927 and once the largest aquatic facility in Los Angeles, has been dry since 2020. Now, as summer heats up, residents are learning that it won’t be filled again.

Instead, the city is laying plans for a $28-million project to demolish it and build two smaller new pools and a splash pad in its place while reconstructing the two-story pool house next door. City officials say they hope to begin the project in summer 2026 and complete it in January 2028.

But for now, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department website simply lists the pool as “closed until further notice.” A Bureau of Engineering spokesperson said the city has not picked a builder yet.

The Griffith Park Pool, closed in 2020, was still dry on July 1.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The new plan marks a sharp turn for a site that was once scheduled for reopening in June 2022. In the run-up to that date, the Eastsider news site first reported, city workers found that the pool had a cracked foundation, one too severe to repair.

Recreation and Parks Department spokeswoman Rose Watson said department Assistant General Manager Cathie Santo Domingo and a maintenance team discovered the cracks in the pool. “Every time they would fill it up, it wouldn’t retain the water,” Watson said.

During the closure, neighbors have complained and signed a petition, lamenting that working-class families in Los Feliz, Atwater, Silver Lake and East Hollywood have long depended on that public pool for summer relief.

“I always wondered what was happening with that. I’ve never seen water in it,” said Christine Perez of Los Feliz, who was at a playground near the pool Monday with her 22-month-old son, Miles. “I was literally thinking last week that it would be great if there was a splash pad down here.”

“Kids need a place to go and a place to learn how to swim,” said Marian Dodge, board secretary and past president of the Friends of Griffith Park. She said the group is “actually thrilled that they’re finally going to go ahead and make the necessary repairs. … We have been assured that it is fully funded.”

A city Bureau of Engineering report says the new project will include “demolition and reconstruction,” replacing the old pool with a new competition pool measuring 25 yards by 50 meters (up to 12.5 feet deep) and a “training pool” splash pad that is 25 yards by 25 meters (up to 5 feet deep), along with reconstruction and rehabilitation of the site’s two-story Spanish-style pool house and improvements to changing and shower areas and ADA accessibility.

The new pools are intended to handle year-round use, incorporating electric pool heaters, salt water and UV light water treatment.

Long known as the Municipal Plunge, the pool at Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard measures about 225 feet by 48 feet. It was the city’s largest aquatic facility until the arrival of Hansen Dam Recreation Area, built in 1940 in the Lake View Terrace area of the San Fernando Valley.

“You know the L.A. River runs right behind the pool?” said Dodge. “The water level behind the pool is so high, they were unable to concrete the river there.” As a result, when the pool was built, it “was described as a concrete boat floating on top of this sand and mud. It was kind of risky at the beginning, but they did it.”

At one point, the pool’s capacity was put at 562 people.

“They would have canoeing lessons and water parades,” Dodge said.

Now neighbored by tennis courts, a playground, a soccer field and Los Feliz Nursery School, the pool was open until late March of 2020, when the city shut multiple recreation facilities in the early days of the pandemic. It lies within City Council District 4, represented by Nithya Raman.

On May 21, the city Board of Public Works authorized hiring Perkins Eastman to do $2.4 million in architectural design and engineering work on the pools and bathhouse.

The idea of progress on the pool is comforting, Dodge said, given the idle state of the park’s pony rides and merry-go-round, both closed since 2022 for various reasons. The L.A. Zoo, also in Griffith Park, remains open but mired in a legal battle over money between the city and the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.

In all, the city operates 57 pools (28 seasonal, 26 year-round and three camp pools) and eight splash pads. As of July 2, eight of the pools were closed.

The nearest city-run pools to Griffith Park are Echo Park, Hollywood and Glassell Park. Griffith Park also includes pools at Camp Hollywoodland and Griffith Park Boys Camp.

A family looking forward to a two-week holiday at a five-star hotel in Jamaica were left shocked after an adults-only festival hosted by the resort led to ‘all hell breaking loose’

Liverpool mum Katie had been eagerly looking forward to her TUI holiday in Jamaica, but says her stay there was ruined by raunchy guests who exhibited “sexual behaviour […] for all to see”.

During an appearance on BBC’s Rip Off Britain, Katie and her sister Rachel spoke of Jamaica as their “second home”, and somewhere where they regularly take their children to visit relatives.

According to Katie, whose husband lives in the Caribbean island nation, it’s important for her children to stay connected to their dual culture. She shared: “Jamaica is our second home. We’re really, really proud of the island and love the culture.”

Sadly, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the children hadn’t been able to visit their grandparents in Jamaica for two years. And so, the family booked a two-week stay at the Luxury Grand Palladium Resort and Spa in Montego Bay.

The group of 24 family and friends spent approximately £15,000 on their booking, which should have been a dream holiday. Unfortunately, things allegedly took a turn.

READ MORE: Brits call out ‘horrendous’ hotel behaviour but admit ‘we find it funny’

At first, the five-star hotel appeared perfect, with the group impressed by the delicious food, gorgeous grounds, and the great service provided by members of staff. The resort advertised plenty of family-friendly facilities, including watersports and a kids’ pool, and felt like the ideal place to bring little ones.

Then, four days into their stay, the tone changed when the group learned the hotel was hosting a four-day music festival, Fantasy Island. Marketed as an adults-only festival, Fantasy Island was attended by some 700 revellers, who apparently “didn’t care” whether or not their antics were suitable for children.

The sisters shared: “All hell broke loose. The main pool was overtaken. People were drinking like fish. It’s fine if it’s in a nightclub, not morning time around a pool with children. There was sexual behaviour going on at the pool bar for all to see. They didn’t care if there were children there.”

After Katie complained to the hotel manager and TUI rep, she was offered four free nights by the hotel, while TUI offered them £150 per person in vouchers or £100 in cash. They believe this compensation just wasn’t enough.

Katie and Rachel weren’t the only guests to take issue with the Fantasy Island event. NHS worker Emma Owen and her family were drawn to the hotel due to its family-friendly appeal, and paid £7,000 for an 11-night all-inclusive break. She recalled seeing attendees “vomit in the pool” as the festival got underway.

Travel expert Lisa Minot stated: “It really is down to the tour operator to inform their guests that there is going to be a significant change or impact on their holiday.”

A TUI spokesperson previously told the Daily Express: “We’re very sorry that some of our customers’ holidays were impacted by this unexpected event at the Grand Palladium Resort and Spa in August 2021.

“While the hotel did not make us aware in advance, we understand how upsetting this was, and have offered a refund for the full four days, along with our sincere apologies. We’d like to reassure customers that this hotel will no longer be hosting this event.”

The Mirror has reached out to TUI for additional comment.

Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected]

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Many Brits seek summer sun abroad from Turkey to Cape Verde, but holidays often turn into costly disasters with delays, illness, and nightmare accidents

Every summer, millions of Brits jet off in search of sunshine and relaxation – but for some, dream holidays can quickly spiral into disaster.

From flight delays and lost luggage to heatstroke, food poisoning, and unexpected injuries, the holiday season often brings more chaos than calm.

Travel insurance providers report spikes in claims during July and August, with accidents abroad, hospital visits, and missed connections among the top complaints.

Here, the Mirror looks at some dream getaways that quickly became nightmares…

Horrific joke gone wrong

A “joke” on a lad’s holiday in Benidorm ended up with a dad breaking his neck after he was shoved into a pool.

Martin Bullen, 31, described how someone who he didn’t know playfully pushed him into the water at a Benidorm pool party on June 10.

The single dad-of-two said he tried to turn his fall into a dive but he didn’t realise how shallow the water was and he split his head open on the bottom of the pool.

Luckily one of the revellers at the party was an army medic who helped get Martin out of the pool and kept him still until an ambulance arrived.

Paramedics took Martin, who works as a sales advisor, to a nearby hospital where doctors gave him 16 stitches in his head and found that he had fractured his neck in three places and broken his back.

READ MORE: ‘Cause of death’ of Beth Martin, 28, whose heart was removed after dying on holiday

He said that the trip to Benidorm had been intended as a relaxing getaway with his cousins to give Martin a break from being a busy single dad.

Martin explained that he had gone to book travel insurance before the holiday, but he had gotten distracted before paying and forgot to purchase it – a mistake he dubbed ‘stupid’.

The tourist ended up forking out £1,500 for the hospital stay and extra flights. He urged holidaymakers travelling this summer not to make the same “daft mistake” as him.

Martin, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: “I was having a drink but I had my wits about me and stuff. Somebody pushed me into the pool and I didn’t know it was a shallow pool.

“I’m thinking I’ll just dive in and dive back up and my head hit the floor straight away and it split open my head.

“It was quite scary. I’ll be honest, there was at one point I thought I was going to die on my own [in hospital] because I didn’t know what was going on or who to talk to.

“It was a moment of madness [not to take out insurance]. I was looking at getting it, I put it in the WhatsApp group for my cousins to get it and as I went to do mine something came up with the kids.

“Then it just slipped my mind and then I forgot all about it and didn’t get it done. It was a daft mistake. I knew I needed to get it. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail, that’s the best thing I could say.”

Raw buffet food hell

What was supposed to be a dream getaway quickly spiralled into a holiday from hell for 25 Brits after they allegedly suffered gastric illnesses while staying at the Riu Karamboa, in Boa Vista in Cape Verde.

The group claim there were disturbing scenes around the hotel’s buffet – birds, flies, and even cats wandering freely. The food, they allege, was often “raw and undercooked,” served alongside “dirty crockery and cutlery.”

One NHS worker who splurged £3,000 to celebrate early retirement said she ended up hospitalised with a severe E.coli infection during her holiday.

Sharon Burrow, 56, of Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, recalled how the luxury break became “one of the worst experiences of her life,” and eight months on, she still battles ongoing complications.

Another guest, Penny Robson, a 55-year-old paramedic from London, was forced to take antibiotics after battling a brutal bout of gastric symptoms – bloating, diarrhoea, nausea, and stomach cramps. Penny, who paid £2,000 for a weeklong stay with a friend in September 2023, had to cancel two prepaid excursions, including a stargazing trip and a private island tour, after falling ill five days in.

The Riu Karamboa resort told the Mirror: “For RIU Hotels & Resorts, the health and safety of our guests is our highest priority. That is why we adhere to strict Health & Safety protocols and comply with all applicable regulations.

“Additionally, we work closely with local health authorities to ensure a safe environment for both our guests and employees. As part of our proactive approach to preventing health issues, we conduct thorough internal and external audits on a regular basis.

“Our hotels in Cape Verde, which consist of six properties with a total of 4,650 rooms, maintain an average occupancy rate of over 80%. Given this high level of activity, we continuously monitor our operations to uphold the highest health and safety standards.”

‘Never leaving UK again’

It was a luxury holiday of celebration that turned into a nightmare. Alison Shah had celebrated her big birthday in style with a month-long trip to countries including Bangkok and Thailand when she tried to get home with her partner Richard Kay, 52, and chaos ensued.

The couple finally made it home after a three-day trek but their ordeal has made them vow ‘never again’. “I have never experienced anything like this,” said Alison. “We paid a lot of money for the holiday and it has ended in a nightmare.”

The couple had flown from Thailand to Dubai last April to find the airport in turmoil due to severe storms, with their plane circling above the airport for an hour and a half before it was able to land. They had a few hours to wait until flying to Manchester.

“Finally at 8am, we started to board the plane, the plane was there,” said Alison. “We then sat there for two and a half hours in the holding area waiting to get on the plane. Nobody was answering any questions and people were getting frantic.”

The couple’s frustration peaked when they were informed of their flight had been cancelled. “We were then told our flight was cancelled and we had to leave the airport,” added the emergency control operator. “We went back the following day and joined another queue for seven and a half hours.

“We were waiting to board the plane and it kept saying delayed, delayed, delayed. The screen changed from Manchester to Sydney and they sent us away again.”

After spending money on a hotel stay, the couple faced further uncertainty at the airport the next day when they were offered a flight to Manchester on April 28 – 12 days after they were meant to head back home. “We couldn’t do that. We had to go to work and we had already been out of the country for a month,” Alison said.

“I asked if they could get us to another airport, if I could get near the UK I could work it out. They got us a flight to Istanbul.”

But their ordeal wasn’t over – landing in Istanbul on April 19, Alison and Richard were greeted with the news that their luggage had gone missing, meaning they had to buy clothes there. The couple then made their way from Istanbul to Dalaman, Turkey, on Saturday in hopes of catching a flight to Manchester.

“We’re pleased to be home, but really really upset not to be able to give the grandchildren the gifts and open the cases and do what you normally do when you get home,” Alison said.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, penned an open letter at the time of the disruption, which said: “The UAE experienced its highest rainfall in 75 years. Storm winds and torrential rain disrupted activities across the cities.

“While our hub in Dubai continued to operate, albeit with reduced flight movements for safety reasons, the flooded roads hampered our customers, pilots, cabin crew, and airport employees from getting to the airport, and also affected the delivery of essential supplies like meals and other flight amenities..

“We know our response has been far from perfect. We acknowledge and understand the frustration of our customers due to the congestion, lack of information, and confusion in terminals. We acknowledge that the long queues and waiting times have been unacceptable.”

Terrifying break-in

Becca Farley, 27, from Eastleigh, Hampshire, was enjoying a getaway in Benidorm with her family when she encountered intruders in their accommodation. The family had shelled out £2,500 for their week-long retreat.

On their final evening, amidst hotel notices about an impending power outage, Becca headed to their room to charge mobile phones ahead of their journey back. She recounted the unsettling moment: “As I got in the lift these two teenagers got in the lift with me and just pressed my floor level. I honestly didn’t think anything of it because there’s five rooms per floor, so I just assumed they were going to one of them.”

However, the situation took a turn when the youths exited the lift before her and made a beeline for her room, which was propped open with a shoe. Initially confused, Becca thought she had got off on the wrong floor, but she quickly realised that wasn’t the case.

“It happened all quite quickly and they just strolled straight into my room,” she said. Becca decided to follow them inside and confront them.

“But I just didn’t really think and went straight into the room and shouted ‘What are you doing in my room? Get the f*ck out, get the f*ck out, get the f*ck out’.” Thankfully, the teenagers did.

Yet, the ordeal hadn’t ended—the youth hammered on the door shortly after while Becca remained barricaded inside. “I was absolutely petrified,” she confessed.

“I know it sounds silly and people have said you should have done this, you should have locked them in the room, you should have decked them but at that moment I think it was just that invasion of privacy. This is supposed to be your safe place when you are away, you’re away from home, we don’t travel all that often so we were really shaken.”

READ MORE: ‘Struggling’ mum ditches regular diets to lose 4 stone with 3 children under five

The outrageous actions of a content creator seeking the perfect social media image in Thailand have led a Brit tourist to brand her a ‘b****’

A British holidaymaker has hit out at influencer culture for going too far as she urged content creators to let children play.

The comments from @carlyleighgyally on TikTok came as she sunned herself by a beautiful pool in a resort in Thailand.

Carly turned to her social media to express her outrage after a young child who was playing with her dad in the water was asked to move so an influencer could get a perfect picture. She explained: “This family’s here and there’s an adults only pool literally 50 metres round the corner where there are no children.

“This little girl who’s playing with her dad in the pool, she’s on his shoulders, she’s the best swimmer I’ve ever had in my life and she’s like five. I think it’s really wholesome and sweet.”

READ MORE: Influencer, 27, found dead after chilling Facebook post calling for ‘help’

Warning: Explicit language in video.

But when a woman arrived and set herself up with a tripod, she wasn’t happy that the stunning backdrop to the beautiful pool – a lush green landscape – was being “spoiled” by the family playing in it. “This f***** influencer pointed to the edge of the pool and was like: ‘Can you go over there?’,” raged the TikTokker.

“‘F*** off’. If you want a private pool to film content… go rent a villa.”

Much to the dismay of the holidaymaker, the “wholesome” family had moved when told and were now not fully enjoying themselves. “Now they’re really uncomfortable at the side of the pool, they’re not doing what they were doing anymore,” she said. “I’m so annoyed at this b****.”

This unnamed influencer isn’t the only one to annoy the public – earlier this year another content creator was slammed for asking a 12-year-old boy enjoying the sea view from Bondi’s famous Icebergs Pool in Australia to move so she could pose. TikTok users were quick to agree with Carly this time around, with one telling her: “My partner makes it his mission to cannonball all influencer shots”.

Another jaw dropping influencer story was shared in response to her video from a TikTokker called Jen, who said: “My fiance proposed to me on holiday and had paid for the hotel to set up an area with flowers, candles and MARRY ME lights. The area was blocked off with a sign saying ‘private event’.

“After he proposed, we sat drinking champagne and these two influencers came over and started taking photos next to us! One of them even moved the private event sign out of the way! So I told them where to go.”

“Influencers in the wild are the worst people ever,” added Carly of her original video. “You can’t tell children to move, it is the worst humanly thing I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

A couple were left reeling after being offered £200 and some counselling sessions in response to their complaints about what should have been a luxury five-star getaway in the Dominican Republic

A furious couple blasted their travel company for offering them counselling after their dream trip turned into the holiday from hell.

Alan Stevens had booked a luxury five-star getaway to the Dominican Republic through TUI as a special birthday present for his wife Sarah, but their 17-day stay in the beachside resort of Punta Cana was marred by a litany of disasters.

The couple were horrified to see guests vomiting and defecating in the pool, others having public sex, and even a dead body covered in a sheet.

After complaining to TUI following their 2023 trip, Alan was flabbergasted to be offered just £200 in vouchers and counselling sessions for his £3,000 holiday, while TUI claimed the issues were largely “outside of our control”.

NHS healthcare assistant Alan from Hull said the five-star Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana – pitched as boasting an “on-the-beach location and a first-class pool scene” on TUI’s website – was “seedy” and “unsafe”, and claimed he and his wife were offered drugs multiple times.

And despite complaining to their holiday rep, Alan claimed they were met with complete indifference. “When we went out to the pool for the first time, we saw guests smoking weed in the pool, people having sex in the pool, and it all felt really seedy,” he told HullLive.

“We saw one woman being sick all over herself in the pool, and another guest actually defecate in the pool – it was disgusting. We were approached by people offering us drugs about 10 times in the 17 days we were there. There were no security guards either, which made it all feel very unsafe.”

Alan added: “It stank of weed, there was food and sick scattered about everywhere. I can’t stress how dirty and seedy it was. No one told us that this was a ‘party hotel’, and I’m shocked that TUI would ever think this would be an appropriate place for my wife and I to stay.”

While they were there, a 35-year-old woman fell from a fourth-floor balcony and died. Her body was covered with a sheet, which Alan and Sarah saw as they walked past.

He later told the BBC that he’d been told two other guests had died from drug overdoses at the hotel while he was there, but when he’d spoken to the hotel manager about the body she’d seen, she reportedly answered: “People die every day.”

He added that the pool had to be emptied twice a day “because the water was so murky”. “People were chucking their drugs in the pool and there was absolutely no security,” he said. “When doing our research, no holiday provider described it as a ‘party hotel’ – but it was.”

Alan and Sarah ended up staying at a quiet pool with older guests and confined themselves to the restaurant nearest their room, “so we weren’t exposed to any more chaos”.

He said TUI had offered to move the couple to another hotel, but they declined after hearing from other guests that the alternative hotel “was just as bad”.

Mr Stevens said the offer of £200 in compensation was “a joke”, while the offer of counselling sessions “due to the events that you witnessed” was “really disheartening” after spending “tens of thousands of pounds” with TUI in the past.

A TUI spokesperson said at the time: “We are sorry to hear of Mr Stevens’s experience during his stay at the Riu Republica Hotel. At TUI, we strive to make travelling with us a smooth experience from start to finish, but unfortunately on this occasion, and largely due to factors outside of our control, we did not meet our usually high standards.

“Our team has been in contact with Mr Stevens and he was offered a gift voucher as a gesture of goodwill, as well as counselling from CCP (Centre for Crisis Psychology), but unfortunately this was declined.”

TUI added to the BBC that the Riu Republica Hotel “is not exclusively available for TUI guests”.

Aaron Turner, 34, was holidaying with his fiancee Shauna Wall, 32, and their four-year-old daughter Halle when he spotted the bizarre scenes at Hotel Sol Barbados

British holidaymakers have been dubbed ‘towel warriors’ as they rush to secure prime loungers by the pool at a Magaluf hotel the moment it opens.

Aaron Turner, 34, witnessed the comical spectacle while vacationing with his fiancée Shauna Wall, 32, and their four-year-old daughter Halle at Hotel Sol Barbados. In true British style, these eager tourists lined up beside the pool for as long as they could before the staff allowed access.

This family from County Meath, Ireland, reported that each day dawned with sun-seekers poised at one of the three entrances to the pool. Aaron, a full-time content creator and father of one, observed them congregating from 9am in anticipation of the 10am opening, despite the abundance of available sunbeds.

“The queues would get pretty long. Once the barriers opened, all the rules went – people were jumping the queue, and some were properly running,” he said.

Have you been swept up in the sunbed wars? Email [email protected]

READ MORE: ‘I went to an all-inclusive family resort solo and it was completely ridiculous’

Aaron highlighted the surplus of sunbeds yet pointed out that everyone was after the most coveted spots. Finding amusement in the situation, Aaron added: “I thought it was hilarious, I’ve seen videos of it online before but it was the first time I experienced it myself. We got a good laugh out of it.”

The sunbed wars are a long-standing, long-drawn-out battle that typically marks the start of the summer. When videos and tales emerge of the first 5am queue for a pool-side spot and mad dash across the tiles of the year, you know the weather is beginning to warm up.

Earlier this week we reported how a group of irate holidaymakers thwarted a cunning plan by fellow Brits to bag sunbeds seven hours before their hotel pool opened on a recent Spain holiday.

While having a late-night chinwag on their balcony, Mandy Boyd spotted some lads she thought were having a cheeky swim in the pool. But upon closer inspection, the 34-year-old realised the young men were trying to nab the best beds at 2am, despite the fact that the pool wasn’t due to open until 9am the next day.

The quartet of girls watched as the lads dragged out their sunloungers to try and secure prime spots. Mandy and her mates patiently waited on the balcony for the perfect moment to dash down and swipe the towels.

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The comical sunbed wars sabotage took place around 2am at the Aquasol Aparthotel, Palmanova, near Magaluf, Spain.

Joined by her mate, Sally Willows, the pair dashed down to the pool and swiftly grabbed the towels. “We’re just doing the Lord’s work,” Mandy from Bridgend, South Wales, said. “I can’t stand it when people reserve sunbeds and don’t use them all day.

“I find it really inconsiderate. It was shocking to see them reserving beds at 2am, especially when there was no chance of those lads being up to enjoy them. We kept the towels, but made sure we left them where they would find them.”

Chad Rivera gingerly makes his way to the edge of what looks like an emptied out swimming pool, a lime-green skateboard in one hand, a white cane in the other. At 58, he’s legally blind, but he’s been skateboarding since he was 5, so what’s about to happen is part muscle memory, part “trust fall.”

Deathracer Chad Rivera is 58 and blind, but says he’ll never give up skateboarding.

Dozens of other skateboarders — mostly men in their 50s and 60s decked out in skating gear — roll along the periphery, watching on, at Encinitas Skate Park near San Diego. It’s not yet 11 a.m., but punk music blasts from the speakers, punctuated by the rumbling and clanking of skateboard wheels on concrete.

Standing at the deep end, Rivera considers the pool bowl’s nine-foot concrete walls. He sets down his white cane and secures the tail of his board on the pool’s rim with one foot, the rest of the board hanging in the air, like a mini diving board. He then steps onto the front of the board with his other foot and throws his body weight forward, “dropping in.”

He races down and around the sides of the walls before flipping around and landing back up on the pool deck.

It’s a frightening move to watch, but Rivera now beams, triumphant, eyes shining.

“Woo! Feel it and kill it,” says Rivera, a retired grape grower who’s suffered from a rare optic nerve disease since he was 22. “It always feels good, so I keep doing it. I’ll never stop, no matter how old I get.”

Rivera is a member of Deathracer413, a group of older skateboarders who believe that skateboarding is their key to longevity. They grew up amid the ’70s and ’80s skate scene and are as passionate about the sport as when they were teens. Many of them are now retired and the joy they get from skateboarding, the sense of community and the health benefits, such as core strength and balance, keep them young, they say. The inherent danger gives them an adrenaline rush that, they argue, keeps their brains sharp.

“Our slogan is: Keep dropping in or you’ll be dropping out,” says the group’s founder, Doug Marker, a former professional skateboarder and retired construction worker who’s lived in San Diego his entire life. Marker, who also surfs, plays guitar and rides motorcycles, is 63 going on 16, with silver hair and a skate-park suntan. On this Saturday morning, he’s wearing baggy shorts, Vans sneakers and a graphic T-shirt featuring “Death Racer” in heavy metal band-like typography.

“Knowing you can get hurt keeps you ultra-focused,” Marker says. “And trusting that you can do it — believing in yourself — is hugely empowering. I keep dropping in, I keep going. It’s put me into a bubble where I never feel like I’m getting older.”

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Marker founded Deathracer413 in 2011 to draw like-minded people who are “living life to the fullest,” he says. The name Deathracer reminded him of a motorcycle club and 413 are his initials, numerically. It was just a loose social affiliation at first, but in 2020 Marker launched the Deathracer413 Road Show, an invitation to join him in skating a different skate park every Saturday.

Deathracer413 now includes former and current pro skateboarders doing tricks alongside average enthusiasts and late-life skating newbies. There are a handful of women in the group as well as a few children honing their skills with the masters.

Marker estimates there are about 1,300 members of the group internationally, though typically only about 20-30 locals attend on any given Saturday. He welcomes anyone into the club and mails them a “welcome letter” and custom Deathracer413 patch that he designed. Hundreds of recipients remain members from afar, kindred spirits who share a “full throttle” outlook on life and participate via social media. Others have trekked from Australia, Germany, Belgium and the UK to skate with Deathracer413.

“’Cause now everybody’s retired and can travel,” Marker says. “They’re finding destinations to come and skateboard and San Diego’s a top one. So they come.”

‘I’ll stop when my body tells me to stop’

The deathracers catch up with one another, fist bumping and drinking beers, as one of them drops into the pool bowl.

As Deathracer413 celebrates its 200th skating session, the vibe is affectionate and rambunctious, jovial retiree backyard barbecue meets heavily tattooed skater meetup. More than 50 members — many with bushy gray beards, paunchy bellies and caps reading “The Goonies: Never Say Die” or “Independent” — mingle on the pool deck, cracking open beers, fist-bumping one another and catching up on life as the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” fades into Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl” on the sound system.

The skaters drop into the pool one after another — swirling and swooshing around, “carving” and “grinding,” before popping back up — in such tight succession it feels choreographed. It’s as if we’re inside a pinball machine, with tiny objects orbiting around one another maniacally, wheels spinning, helmets twisting, boards whizzing by or flying into the air before crashing back down. Every so often someone wipes out, sliding across the pool bottom, sparking cheers of encouragement.

“I feel like the older I get the more I worry about getting hurt — because it lasts longer,” admits skateboarding legend Steve Caballero, 60. “If you think about it, it’s kind of a scary sport. You can get really hurt.”

Caballero has been a pro skateboarder since he was 15 and fear doesn’t stop him today — “I’ll stop when my body tells me to stop,” he says. He performs one of his signature moves, sliding along the rim of the pool on the skateboard truck instead of the wheels. No small feat for a body that’s endured more than 45 years of extreme athletics. A documentary about his life, “Steve Caballero: The Legend of the Dragon,” debuts this November.

Legendary skateboarder and deathracer Steve Caballero, 60, has been pro since he was 15.

“It definitely keeps me in shape,” he says. “It keeps me youthful-thinking, staying creative and being challenged. I think when people get older they quit doing these things because they feel like they should. I’m trying to show people, hey, even in your older age you can still have fun and challenge yourself.”

The feeling of freedom, the thrill of sailing through the air, is worth the risk to Barry Blumenthal, 60, a retired stockbroker.

“I’m more worried about crashing my car. I mean, I wear gear in here,” Blumenthal says. “Skating is just extreme fun where you can’t help but grin. It’s kid-like. It’s a fountain of youth experience. You’re chasing stoke.”

Pushing the boundaries of skating

Wiping out is part of the process, the Deathracers say. It’s still “kid-like” fun, “a fountain of youth experience.”

No doubt “dropping in” and “chasing stoke” for eternity would be “rad.” But is there any validity to Deathracer413’s claims that skateboarding promotes health and longevity?

“I’d worry about fractures,” says Dr. Jeremy Swisher, a UCLA sports medicine physician. “As you get older, it takes the body longer to heal. But it comes down to a risk-benefit analysis. The endorphins, the adrenaline — the joy of it — as well as the new challenges that stress the mind in a good way would be very mentally stimulating. You’re forming new neural pathways as you’re trying new moves. It would help keep the brain young and fresh.”

“I race cars for a hobby, and I know what that does for my aging,” adds Dr. Eric Verdin, president and chief executive of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Northern California. “Finding a thing that you’re passionate about, having a sense of community, not to mention the balance and motor coordination — skateboarding is extremely physical — all of that is part of healthy aging.”

Deathracer413 also has an important place in the trajectory of skateboarding.

Skateboarding has been around in California since the 1950s — a way to recreate surfing, but on dry land. “Vertical skateboarding,” which the Deathracers partake in, grew out of SoCal kids commandeering emptied backyard swimming pools. It was especially prevalent during the 1976-77 drought, when residents had to drain their pools and kids began performing elaborate airborne tricks. Skate parks emerged and “vert skating,” as it was dubbed, became a phenomenon.

Doug Marker, founder of Deathracer413, shows off the ring and patch he designed, bearing the group’s name.

The first park in California opened in Carlsbad in 1976 and the San Diego area is still considered a central hub for the sport. So today there’s a critical mass of ’70s and ’80s-era skateboarding devotees who still live nearby. That’s why Deathracer413 — the only club of its kind in the area, Marker says — has so many active members.

“There hasn’t ever been 60-year-plus [vert skaters] before,” Marker says. “The sport’s not that old. So that’s kind of our thing — we’re just gonna keep pushing the bar.”

In that sense, Deathracer413 is more than a subcultural vestige — its members present a sports medicine study of sorts, says Michael Burnett, editor in chief of “Thrasher Magazine,” a longtime skateboarding publication.

“A lot of people here are older than me,” says John Preston Brooks, 56.

“There were a few old-guy outliers, but this is the first generation of older skaters,” Burnett says. “We’re now witnessing how long someone can physically skateboard for — this is the test. It’s uncharted territory.”

Still, many of the Deathracers have modifed their skating techniques as they’ve aged. Marker says he now skates within 80-85% of his ability range to be safe. Others admit that the inevitable — death — is on their minds.

“As an older adult, you can get into your head about, oh, how much time do I have left?” says John Preston Brooks, 56. “But a lot of people here are older than me and it just makes me realize I got a lot more time to do the things I love and make the best of life.”

David Skinner, 60, a retired school teacher, says he’s realistic about his physical limits.

“A lot of us have health issues,” he says. “We’re not necessarily trying to cheat death, but we’re definitely trying to stay ahead. We know it’s coming, but we wanna keep dropping in and having fun, and this gives us a venue to do it.

A brotherhood, even if you no longer skate

As the day grinds on, the skate session morphs into an actual barbecue. Marker fires up the grill, tossing on an assortment of meat: burgers, bratwursts, hot dogs. Plumes of aromatic smoke float over the pool bowl, which is still getting some action.

Lance Smith, 74, stands off to the side of the bowl, a Coors Light in one hand, a Nikon camera in the other. With his dark sunglasses, soul patch of facial hair above his chin and trucker hat that reads “Old Bro,” he appears like someone’s cool great-uncle. He can’t skate anymore due to three replacements — two hip, one knee — after years of skateboarding injuries. (“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he says.) But Smith, who documented the SoCal skateboarding scene in the ’70s and photo edited the book “Tracker: Forty Years of Skateboard History,” still attends Deathracer413 events nearly every Saturday. He photographs club members in action.

Doug Marker mans the grill as the afternoon skate session morphs into a barbecue.

“It’s the community,” Smith says, stretching out his arm and snapping a passing skater. “I get enjoyment out of shooting pictures and seeing my friends skateboard. And, yeah, drinking a Coors Light.”

Deathracer413 is both a brotherhood and a sisterhood, says Tuli Lam, 31, a physical therapy student and one of the only women skaters in attendance today. “When I’m here, I’m just one of the guys. We’re bonded by skating.”

That camaraderie is evident when the group presents Marker with a gift of thanks.

“OK, gather round! Bring it in!” yells Lansing Pope, 58.

The skaters crowd around, stretching their necks to see what’s in the wrapped box Marker is tearing open.

“It’s a knee brace!” someone yells.

“It’s a crutch!” says another.

“Something for his prostate?” jokes a third.

“Whoa, super dope,” Marker says. (It’s a leather Deathracer413 bedroll for his motorcycle.) “I’m super stoked.”

The skateboarders presented Doug Marker with a gift, a custom Deathracer413 bedroll for his motorcycle.

“Till your wheels fall off!” several guys scream in unison, fists in the air.

Then, as if on cue, the skaters disperse around the pool bowl, streaming in and out of it, the sound of rattling wheels and screeching metal on concrete filling the space.

Tye Donnelly, 54, surveys the scene from a nearby picnic table, an electric guitar on his lap. He noodles on it, playing a mix of Black Sabbath and reggae.

“When I was 18, I never thought I’d be the old age of 20 and still skateboarding,” he says. “At 54, I thought I’d have a hat on, a suit, with a newspaper. But it turns out you can skateboard your whole life. And I’m thankful for this group — because it wasn’t like this back in the day.”

Caballero sums up senior skateboarding best: “This is the new bingo.”