Hey! Let’s get tattooed. On the hottest day of the year. You absolute dick.
I’ve had a couple of years off the ink action whilst I assess my future vanity plans, not to mention scrambling around to get the cash together.
A couple of sessions were booked in for June and July. I then got lucky as my tattoo man had a couple of cancellations. Grab them all you whilst can. The recovery process with no sport can be tough. You might as well condense these in.
My tattoo man has had a studio move since my last visit. He’s now working out of a pretty cool funky place out in the middle of bloody nowhere. A bicycle route was plotted using my Beeline Velo 2. I rolled out shortly after 7:00 am in search of the middle of bloody nowhere.
I was armed with ice packs, water, and a big bowl of pasta. The BBC temperature had forecast 37 degrees for later in the day. The exact location of the middle of bloody nowhere also happened to be, come the end of the day, the highest temperature in the whole of the UK.
The early start was most welcome. My tattoo man reasoned that we should crack on as early as we could so as to avoid the killer heat later in the afternoon.
To be honest I was very nervous about this; not so much the actual inking itself. You don’t go through two sleeves and still live in fear of fainting under the needle, as was the case for me back in the City of Death during the early 90s.
My nervousness was more about the heat. I really can’t handle it very well. I made it quite clear from the start that I would sweat my arse off, but I’m fine with that as long as my tattoo man was.
I needn’t have worried. Some lovely lovely air conditioning had recently been installed in the studio. It was like being tattooed in an air-conditioned supermarket all day. I’ve never felt so fresh.
The change of studio has led to a slight change in the culture of the place. Those hip-hop bangers have now been replaced with a loosely themed Arctic Monkeys playlist. It made for pleasant background listening as the ink went in.
The main work today was to start on the back of my calf. Like a fool I had forgotten I have been suffering from a calf injury for the past six months. I thought this had healed but when my tattoo man was rubbing down various parts, I got some slight twinges. At least I know now where the exact pain is in the calf. I’ve also got the perfect excuse to lay off the running for a couple of months.
Shortly after 2 p.m. we were both done for the day. I was absolutely broken. I didn’t sweat my arse off, but lying on your front for the best part of the day and being poked around with a needle can physically and mentally take it out of you.
My tattoo man is absolutely superb. He’s the best in the business as far as I’m concerned. His portfolio online speaks for itself. He has a charming bedside manner.
One down, three more to go. Let’s hope the heat wave conditions calm down slightly ahead of my next appointments.