Joe Young

Joined June 2022

0 stories

Bio

Blogger and freelance writer from the north-east coast of England

Stories (66/0)

An Incident from the Summer of Frankie Says Relax
When I was a young lad, my family and I were moved from a soon-to-be-demolished downstairs flat that was infested with mice, to a brand new three bedroom house on a nearby estate. The move sparked a lot of change in my life; there were new friends to hang out with, I had my own bedroom, whose walls I would festoon with posters, and an inside toilet, which allowed me to go about my business free of the company of woodlice.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Confessions
When Teachers Attacked
I once watched the 1970 film Kes with my (then) girlfriend, who was three decades my junior. She was aghast at how much bullying went on in the film, not between pupils, but from staff. I considered it a fairly accurate representation of school life in the 1970s.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Confessions
Riding the Coal Hoppers as a Teen
When I was in my early teens, I sometimes kick about with friends who lived on a neigbouring estate. One of the attractions there was a railway line that ran along the bottom of several back gardens. Diesel engines on this line hauled hoppers, which we called trucks, full of coal from the nearby Bates’ colliery, now long since closed and demolished. With that blindness to danger that many teenagers suffer from, we used to ride on those hoppers for kicks.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Confessions
But Who Gets Custody of the Cat?
After almost four years together, my partner Jane delivered, entirely out of the blue, the bombshell of a Dear John note, sealed in a we-need-to-talk envelope. Facing facts, I couldn’t deny that the sparkle had gone from our relationship and so, with heavy heart, I agreed that it was time for us to go our separate ways.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Fiction
Running Errands as a Child
When I was a young boy, I would often run errands for my mother, and occasionally one of the neighbours, to the corner shop at the top of our street.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Confessions
Jumping Off the High Dive Board
I’ve never been a great swimmer. I can manage and all, but I never went in for having distance badges sewn onto my trunks, or diving board showboating. As a teenager, I enjoyed frolicking in the shallows, eyeing up girls, and performing illicit bombs when the pool attendant wasn’t looking.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Confessions
Sneaking into the Cinema
In the centre of my home town, Blyth, there stands a huge building that was once a cinema, but which, like many of its fellows, is now a pub belonging to a huge national chain. The building had lain derelict for many years, so its refurbishment was welcomed, and an eyesore was transformed.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Confessions
The Stratton Brothers: Hanged by a Fingerprint
The name Harry Jackson does not sit with the likes of Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub four-minute mile, Nicholas Brakspear, the first, and thus far only English pope, and Trevor Francis, the subject of England’s first million pound football transfer. But Jackson claims an English first just like each of the aforementioned. He was the first man on these islands to be convicted by fingerprint evidence.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Criminal
Five Commonly Confused Words in English
The English language is awash with words that are erroneously, but in some cases widely, considered to be interchangeable. This is often not the case, and a misused word can jar on the eye of the reader, particularly on a platform where many of those readers are writers themselves. Here are five pairs of words that are often used incorrectly.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Education
Jackdaw Junior
The house had died with Mother. It had been two weeks since her emaciated body gave up the fight at Saint Luke’s Hospital in town, and when she stopped breathing, the heart of the house was also stilled.
By Joe Young5 months ago in Fiction
Brannigan and Murphy: Wrongly Convicted on Fabricated Police Evidence
Let me take you on a journey back in time. To 1879, when Victoria was on the throne, Disraeli sat in Number Ten, and Joseph Swan of Newcastle had recently announced his invention of the incandescent light bulb.
By Joe Young6 months ago in Criminal
The Sailor Who Chose Death Over prison
Victorian prisons were brutal places, where solitude and servitude were the orders of the day. The state got its own back on those who had flouted the law, by having them perform pointless, demeaning and physically demanding tasks. And, for those who dared rebel against the regime, there was a punishment diet of bread and water, which the prisoner would partake of in solitary confinement.
By Joe Young6 months ago in Criminal