To the tattoo studio! For the second time in two weeks! This was also going to be something of a double-dip session. I’m also booked in for tomorrow morning, with a fourth booking later in July. Best to get it all done in one go.
On the broad canvas agenda today was my knee. In tattoo terms this roughly starts at the centre of your kneecap and then extends about three inches out. The golden rule in tattooing is always to size up.
It was also a lot more fiddlier than I was expecting. My ace tattoo man is a perfectionist. The first stencil was drawn and then marked up with the magic wipe off ink.
He stared and pondered. I could tell he wasn’t happy. He stared and pondered a little more. He pointed out a slight imperfection with everything not quite lining up.
It was time to get the soap out, scrub it all off, and start again. It’s best to do this with the removable ink than with the real dark black stuff.
I was getting a little distracted by what was on the studio telly for my entertainment: Jeremy Clarkson’s Grand Tour. I must have watched about four episodes. That’s four more episodes than I’ve ever watched in my lifetime. I confess to actually enjoying some of the stunts, if not the personalities involved.
Downstairs in the studio and the other artists had taken control of the playlist. I was a little surprised that it wasn’t the usual hip-hop which accompanies a tattoo session.
Instead we had some classic rock. It was decent to hear the full version of Layla that then plays out and becomes something very different altogether.
With the stencil now meeting the perfectionist requirements of my tattoo man, the rest of the day was spent filling in the dots. Dot. Dot. Dot. It’s all about the dot work innit.
My tattoo man has a wonderful bedside manner. I think he’s clocked that the way to keep me pain-free is to distract me with conversation. Holding down a conversation with someone for six hours and keeping the interest on both sides is no mean feat.
My watch then pinged. Oh. I see Farage has resigned over in Clacton. The conversation then changed ever so slightly.
Around seven hours later, after I first arrived, we had made some damn good progress. The knee is probably around two-thirds done. I’ve been told to expect some of the extreme black patches to start swelling overnight.
More of the same tomorrow.