Friday Feeling (7/8) By Nick Quantrill

(1/8), (2/8), (3/8), (4/8), (5/8), (6/8), (7/8), (8/8).

He was bent down at the chocolate display making his selection as he heard a man crash into the store. Maynard peered around the stand. The man was wearing a balaclava and had his hand in his pocket, brandishing what Maynard thought must be a weapon. The man threw a holdall onto the desk with his other hand. Maynard looked around, nobody else was in the store. 'Empty the till into there, right now,' the man said aggressively. Fuck, thought Maynard. All his training told him to sit tight, observe and not antagonise the situation further. Fuck the training, he thought as he moved slowly to the other end of the stand, allowing himself a better view.

The cashier had nervously taken the holdall from the man and was beginning to open the till.

'Hurry up. I'm not messing around. Make it faster or you'll force me to lose my temper with you.' Maynard leapt out from behind the stand and taking the man by surprise, he easily took him down towards the floor. As he pulled him downwards, Maynard forcefully grabbed a handful of the man's hair and pushed his head into the wall firmly enough to daze the armed robber. Maynard heard the screeching of tyres from outside of the shop. He assumed it was the man's accomplice making a hasty getaway. It didn't matter. Now that he had one of the men, he'd soon find the rest. He then went straight to the man's jacket to disarm him.

Maynard shook his head disdainfully as he removed a banana. Throwing the piece of fruit onto the floor, he told the cashier who he was and instructed her to ring to ring for the police. As the dazed man began to recover, Maynard shifted his body weight to stop the other man escaping until the police arrived to handcuff him and take him back to the station. The man began to groan and complain that his nose was broken. 'Good' replied Maynard 'and if you so much as try to move a muscle, I'll do far worse next time. Now, let's be having that balaclava off you. Introduce ourselves properly.' Maynard's face split into a wide grin, as he reached for his warrant card. Craig Melton, we meet at long last.

I'm Detective Constable Maynard and I'm arresting you on suspicion of armed robbery.'

Saturday 9am Maynard was bringing Coleman up to date on the previous evening's action, as they both drank strong cups of coffee. The office was peaceful; no gentle humming of printers, no demanding rings from the telephones and no raised voices. The overtime budget had been exhausted and very few people were around. Most of the officers who had paperwork to catch up on chose to do so at home. 'So, what brings you in on a Saturday morning?' asked Maynard.

'I really need to crack through some more of this paperwork for the DI. Otherwise, he'll be gunning for me next week.'

'I assume that you have heard about last night?' 'Sort of second hand from Bill on the desk on my way in.' Maynard explained to him what had happened. Coleman looked at him incredulously. 'So, you were bent down, deciding which bar of chocolate you fancied when Melton burst into the station'. 'That's right.' 'Holding a banana under his coat?' 'Well, yes, but I didn't know that at the time,' laughed Maynard. Coleman shook his head. 'He's more stupid than I thought. Unbelievable.' 'Tell me about it.'

Continued... Next Page (8/8)

Articles - Ten Foot Titans By Rich Mills

	Long summer Sundays when I was a kid were spent running around, plastic machine gun gripped tightly in my hands, throwing myself onto the hot concrete as imagined bullets flew overhead. Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat. Andy came running full pelt down the ten-foot, Uzi tucked close to his side, spraying invisible hot lead along the side of Brown Owl's fence. Jamie bursts out of his back Read more...

Articles - Charities - And Albert Foundation - Trading Roots at The Zoo Café

	The Zoo Café on Newland Avenue in Hull is currently selling goods produced by the And Albert Foundation ... The founder of the And Albert Foundation, David Murden has been working for almost 15 years to realise his vision of creating long-term ethical trade with villages in the developing world. Fifteen years retail experience has Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull: Stories 1969 - 2005 Part 2 By Rich Mills

	Much of the lower half of his face was carpeted with a dense mat of short-cropped wire. Stroking his hand across his chin, he evoked a long distant memory of adolescent profundity. Another's name floated into his mind, Pat, he'd always thought that was a girl's name, short for Patricia. However Pat was also the name of his former college lecturer, from when Read more...

Articles - For Those About to Rock...We Salute You...Again! by Joolz

	For those of a certain age and musical leaning, the name Trog Bar will hold great memories. For a goodly number of years, Trog Bar was the place to go on a night out if you liked your music Loud and Rockin'. The place itself seemed to act as a gravitational force to all with long hair, tattoos, denim jackets and a preference for patchouli. It wasn't the sort of venue Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull: Stories 1969 - 2005 Part 1 By Rich Mills

	A romper suit with plastic feet, dancing to the transistor radio placed high up on the kitchen shelf. We really did have a mouse that lived in the skirting-boards of the kitchen, didn't we? Lift the lid on the Danset, slap on the vinyl, drop the needle. Here comes the crackling sounds of my deep grooved and somewhat scratched Pinky and Perky LP, Jungle Book Read more...

Articles - Love Me, Love My Band By Kate Wood

	So I met someone. He was charming, well-read, funny and heartbreakingly cute. He liked my Yoko Ono jokes and my love of lab coats. I also think he could even put up with my snotty elitism when it came to music. This is it, I thought, Romance at last! And I love romance. If I could pick any line that describes my outlook on love, life and the universe it would be Read more...

Articles - My Saturday Nights By Harry Slater

We'd kill for the four o'clock stumble home at around one, when the cocktails are just about to kick in, and we're forgetting the indignity of cheap fucks bumming cigarettes off us. Acute nihilism's filling the air, the kind of repulsion that drags you away from sense, sends your head spiralling into the same unforgettable-dross filled rant about how we're all better than the people who are Read more...

Articles - There's Nothing Familiar Within 500 Miles! By Matt Hill in Thailand.

I finally managed to get a picture with some People in for you, this was taken yesterday in my favourite tea shop. The entire bill came to less than a pound, the tea's really thick and sweet, and they leave plates of cakes, buns and somosas on the table in a clever ploy to get you scoffing. So, I've hit the half way point of my time here and suddenly everything's changed - when, at first, I Read more...

Articles - Hami Kurd's Response to "At a Turning Point?" by Gary Craig 25/7/05

	This is a Hami Kurd response to the above report by Professor Gary Craig. This was a research report on race relations in Hull. It seems that Gary Craig has sentenced the research to be negative before he even started writing it. Below is what we think of it as a Kurdish community living in this city with normal people of Hull, not behind nice desks and offices. Read more...

Articles - Concerned About Africa? A Chance to Help Hulls Twinned City

	Hull is twinned with Freetown in Sierra Leone, a city which is trying to become a Fair Trade city like York. Fairmade is a new business employing 25 people in Freetown; a place where everything, every day and every penny is a struggle. It's trying to do its bit to reduce the devastating poverty of the war torn West African country. Help Sierra Leone Read more...

Articles - On 'At a turning point? The state of race relations in Kingston upon Hull' a report by Prof G Craig, 26 July 05

	'What do you think about the state of race relations in Hull? Your chance to express your views. Professor Gary Craig has been commissioned to conduct an enquiry into the state of race relations in Hull'. Prof Craig issued this invitation through the local press and radio and Hull City Council departments and other Read more...

Articles - Funky's Matt Hill writes to us from Thailand By Matt Hill

Hey, Matt here :-) I know it's been AGES since I sent some pictures, so I finally made myself take some - you know what it's like, the weather's never good enough or you know the camera won't do it justice, but the time has come. OK, so you have to realise that these pictures aren't going to really impress you, this place isn't big or clever. Also, my digital camera disk keeps getting wet Read more...

Articles - Panic, Paranoia and Peter Levy's Top Lip By Joe Hakim

	The world is a welter of conflicting fanaticisms - Betrand Russell And so it begins... You can feel it, a charge building - energy rushing up through our veins, a huge shock to the brain, fuse has gone, no light anymore. The smell of candle wax in your nostrils. Squinting in the dark. The fuse has gone. Read more...

Articles, - The Drugs Box By Rich Mills

	The Drugs Box; I'd heard of these things, I'd even seen one once, but never had a chance to have a go on one. So when I got the chance to see one in action I jumped at it. As an ex Drugs Worker, particularly having worked with young people, one of these would have been invaluable. A fully interactive, touch screen, educational tool, ideal for use Read more...

Articles - Quitting My Job - A Prologue By Joe Hakim

The idea comes to me in a dream. I know listening to other people's dreams is more boring than listening to their problems, but bear with me. I grab an hour's kip before work, and I enter that half-asleep/half-awake state where dreams are vivid and loaded with symbols. I'm in my flat and I have a pet lion. I'm watching it run around, and I'm upset because I know that I have to get rid of it Read more...

Articles - Ladies and Gentlemen, the Freakshow is Over...For Now By Jane Foster

So, we finally have the official verdict on Michael Jackson - ill, but innocent; nuts, but not guilty; freaky, but to him and his equally barmy fans, free. Frankly I could never see what all the fuss was about. Surely anyone who has had to endure his tedious dance routine (consisting of squeals of Ow! Ee-hee! whilst grabbing his genitals) should be glad that at last he's moved on to fondling someone else's? Read more...

Articles - Gary Bushel - My Hero by Andrea Longstaff

	Why is it that the practical workman or Sun reader is as thick as pig shit? Is it a pre- requisite for tradesmen's school? One workman asked my boss What's your favourite colour? Dunno, red he says. I'm only the cleaner but I couldn't believe it. What an enthralling conversation, I had to say, Read more...