Harry Pearson, a Teesside writer, wrote in his book -- The Corner Flag: A Mazy Dribble through North East Football -- "If you put a Geordie in a pot and boiled him down to his essence you'd end up with a little spot of Prozac. If you boiled a Teessider down, he wouldn't be at all surprised." By which he meant, I think, Geordies are incurably optimistic. That said, some of the most miserable bastards I've ever known are from the N.E. Perhaps it's a case of Tom Hawk; you have to laugh or else you'll cry. ;o)