22 Problems Only People From The North East Will Understand
Drastically misrepresented by the tango-skinned cleavage-lovers of Geordie Shore, it's about time the people of the North-East got their due.
The North East of England. Home to the Geordies, the Mackems, the Pit-Yakkers, the Poolies and the Smoggies. About 3 million of us occupy this canny little place: filled with vast history, heritage, and - unfortunately - reality TV horrors. Our hometowns are portrayed to the watching world through the mining villages of Billy Elliott, Catherine Cookson prose, or the Fanta-faced sex beasts of Geordie Shore. It's a wonder the rest of Europe know there's any normal inhabitants in these once Viking-invaded lands. Still, some marvellous wonders have risen from this old chunk of Britain: Mr Bean is from Durham; Sting from Northumberland; Lucozade was originally made in a small chemist in Newcastle... and of course, there's GREGGS. It was Geordie music producer Chas Chandler who first discovered Jimi Hendrix and brought him to Newcastle and George Stephenson - the "Father of Railways" - who built the first inter-city railway line. Impressive, eh? We're all guilty of bad-naming our loveable Northern hometowns: the weather's rubbish, wages are shoddy, and some of the inhabitants are, well, interesting to say the least. But, we wouldn't change any of it for the world. Here's 22 reasons why living in the North East of England can be a problematic love/hate affair. Feel free to share your own North Eastern problems in the comments below.