What tattoo will you be getting? Asks the Guardian.
With tattoo parlours in England able to reopen from 13 July we would like to know what tattoos people will be getting post-lockdown.
What design are you getting and why? Do you have any concerns about social distancing?
I won’t be getting any tattoos. They look hideous. I recall my grandfather showing me the tattoos on his arms that he got while in the Navy. An anchor on one and a bluebird on the other. He was in his late sixties by then. They were faded and the lines were blurry with age. They looked awful. It put me off the idea for life.
When I see someone vandalising their skin with these things, I recoil. My attitude hasn’t changed in fifty years. I still detest them.
I never liked them. I did briefly consider getting a small one after doing the Outlaw triathlon but came back to my senses. I see loads of them at the gym and most of them look awful. I can sort of understand getting something understated that means something personally but most of the ones that I’ve seen are just random crap. They look worse on women, especially badly spelled bits of homespun philosophy.
The Outlaw triathlon logo that I decided not to get. https://images.app.goo.gl/dhFTBQtb8Ww3PwNg9
I remember chatting to a guy who was a professional tattooist, and he was telling me how the requests for designs come in waves as everyone sees the same source and then goes for the same thing: eyes, birds, runes etc. He said that there was a phase when literally everyone would come in and ask for a clock, and he wanted to scream at them “Enough bloody clocks already!” but it was work and he couldn’t turn it down.
Express your individuality by having the same tattoo as 43,837 other people.
The irony is missed, of course.
The same thing applies to the act of getting a tattoo of any kind really. Just about everyone is getting tattoos because they are fashionable, not getting a tattoo is an expression of individualism.
I was chatting to a body artiste who told me of an elderly gentleman wishing to have his perineum pierced. The artiste declined that particular commission.
Similarly my RN and Merchant Marine Uncles showed me their fading old tattoos to put me off getting any myself.
I once gave a lift to a teenage neighbour and his 20ish Uncle to a nearby town, got shouted at by his mum next day as he had returned with an arm tattoo. Don’t blame me blame his bloody Uncle !
o/t back in April I posted about ambulances tearing around with sirens needlessly blaring for the sole purpose of keeping the lockdown populace in fear.
Today @ lockdownsceptics.org Toby leads with an NHS whistleblower who confirms that same practice in Surrey, amongst many outrages.
Curiously the lead article mentioned above has now vanished with no explanation.
Wasn’t really interested in tattoos. 40 years ago, Brother in law had an Indian chief tattooed on his back. Full head dress, very colourful and looked impressive. He only ever saw it in the mirror.
20 years later I did then relent and had a small heart design with the wife’s name on my upper arm. Two months later she left………..
Here’s what to do if you’re thinking of getting a tattoo:
Get the design printed on a couple of t-shirts and wear them continuously for the next five years. If you still like the design, get the tattoo.
42 year old anchor (from my MN days). I dread to think what some people’s bodies will look like in 42 years’ time
Looks much like those my grandfather sported.