From the outset I've been a little anxious that this task would cause frissons in my social circles - and in truth I've known that it wouldn't be well received by everyone because a person very dear to my heart, namely daughter Lucy, was appalled at the idea when she first heard about it. And I don't blame her either - I would have been mortified if my own mother had suggested doing such a thing.
In March, the Hunot family met up for dinner in a London restaurant to celebrate Mother's Day. At this point only Lucy and Andrew knew about my proposed tattoo task. Andrew was willing to support me (how had I managed to bring him onside? Aha, more on that later) and Lucy was running the 'no' campaign. Confident that Jonathan would share her views, Lucy outed my planned 'tat' task before we'd even been served our starters. I braced myself for Jonathan's reaction.....but to her shock and my amazement, Jonathan didn't bat an eyelid - in fact he said he'd already suggested to Liz that she should get one done. Poor Lucy. By the end of the evening Liz and I had a provisional agreement in place to get inked up together. After some deliberation, Lucy agreed to come along with us on the basis of maintaining some control over my tattoo temptations. And thus the die was cast.
So how come Andrew was showing such a relaxed attitude towards Task 13? Well, my tattoo proposal was based on three criteria:
a) it would be positioned in such a place that no one apart from Andrew would ever see it
b) it would be tiny
c) it would be heart-shaped
Let me show you in a photo why I reckoned 'heart-shaped' would be a winning pitch. Here are a collection of presents that I've been given by Andrew over the last 5 years or so. Can you spot a theme?
On my 60th birthday I received an official go-ahead from Jonathan in the birthday card he and Liz gave me, although there were a few caveats (and I quote): '.....please make sure the tattoo is a) small b) subtle and c) doesn't have dad or any children/pet references to it!!'
For the next 4 months Liz and I communicated regularly about Task 13. We mulled over designs, position (I selected a discreet location on my right hip and Liz chose her left foot), level of pain involved, possible adverse effects - and crucially, where to have the deed done. Liz and Lucy did some sterling work in checking out various parlours and reported back that they were all run by people with top to toe tattoos, multiple piercings and huge holes in their earlobes. Eek...... Then we discovered that Top Shop in Oxford Circus has a tattoo parlour called Metal Morphosis, situated next to their nail bar. Now that's more like it we thought - somewhere that would understand the concept of girlie tiny tattoos.
Appointments were duly booked at Metal Morphosis. Andrew had a momentary wobble when he read about a study demonstrating a link between having a tattoo and anger/rebelliousness. I assured him that I would attend anger management classes if necessary.
Last Saturday tat time was finally upon us. Liz, Lucy and I joined forces at Top Shop, and introduced ourselves to our tattoo artist Sarah, aka Lady S. She knew that two of us were to be seeing her. She shook Liz's hand, then Lucy's - and then as a polite afterthought, she shook mine too. When I told her that it was me who was to be one of her clients that day and why, to her credit she sounded rather excited and gave me a high five. Go Lady S!
I was first under the needle. I felt rather embarrassed at first - I mean, for goodness sake, a 60 year old woman having a tattoo on her hip....? But once Sarah got going, my focus instantly shifted from embarrassment to aargh, as the procedure was a tad more painful than I'd expected. Fortunately it only took about 2 mins to complete (compare that against the 5 hours it apparently took to complete the tattoo on Sarah's right forearm....)
Then it was Liz's turn. The outline she'd chosen was a small boat. She was extremely calm and very brave whilst her tattoo was being done. There did seem to be an awful lot of ink swishing about, but once it was wiped away, the little boat came to life on Liz's foot and it looked great!
Liz and I were both given little pots of tattoo healing cream, and off the three of us went to celebrate with a bottle of prosecco. For the past few days we've been tending to our tattoo sites and watching them settle down. One week on, here they are........I've put a 5p piece against mine so that you can see how tiny it is.
Hold on a moment, it's just occurred to me that I'm nearing the end of the blog and I still haven't answered a key question - why oh WHY did I decide to have a tattoo?? Well........I think it's fair to say that I wanted to include an item on the list that was a bit 'left-field' (as Jonathan has so nicely put it). But as importantly it's given me a permanent reminder of my slightly crazy but very special sixtyat60 year - added to which it's a celebration of 38 years of wedded bliss to that 'hearty' husband of mine!
A big hug and thanks to Liz for being the perfect companion/partner in crime on Task 13 and to the rest of my family for tolerating this quirky idea of mine. And the last word on Tattoogate from my chief critic Lucy? When asked yesterday how she feels about my tattoo now, she admitted that she's 'come round to the idea'. Oooh - now what tattoo was my neighbour Rebeccca suggesting I could have on my left hip?
So how come Andrew was showing such a relaxed attitude towards Task 13? Well, my tattoo proposal was based on three criteria:
a) it would be positioned in such a place that no one apart from Andrew would ever see it
b) it would be tiny
c) it would be heart-shaped
Let me show you in a photo why I reckoned 'heart-shaped' would be a winning pitch. Here are a collection of presents that I've been given by Andrew over the last 5 years or so. Can you spot a theme?
On my 60th birthday I received an official go-ahead from Jonathan in the birthday card he and Liz gave me, although there were a few caveats (and I quote): '.....please make sure the tattoo is a) small b) subtle and c) doesn't have dad or any children/pet references to it!!'
For the next 4 months Liz and I communicated regularly about Task 13. We mulled over designs, position (I selected a discreet location on my right hip and Liz chose her left foot), level of pain involved, possible adverse effects - and crucially, where to have the deed done. Liz and Lucy did some sterling work in checking out various parlours and reported back that they were all run by people with top to toe tattoos, multiple piercings and huge holes in their earlobes. Eek...... Then we discovered that Top Shop in Oxford Circus has a tattoo parlour called Metal Morphosis, situated next to their nail bar. Now that's more like it we thought - somewhere that would understand the concept of girlie tiny tattoos.
Appointments were duly booked at Metal Morphosis. Andrew had a momentary wobble when he read about a study demonstrating a link between having a tattoo and anger/rebelliousness. I assured him that I would attend anger management classes if necessary.
Last Saturday tat time was finally upon us. Liz, Lucy and I joined forces at Top Shop, and introduced ourselves to our tattoo artist Sarah, aka Lady S. She knew that two of us were to be seeing her. She shook Liz's hand, then Lucy's - and then as a polite afterthought, she shook mine too. When I told her that it was me who was to be one of her clients that day and why, to her credit she sounded rather excited and gave me a high five. Go Lady S!
I was first under the needle. I felt rather embarrassed at first - I mean, for goodness sake, a 60 year old woman having a tattoo on her hip....? But once Sarah got going, my focus instantly shifted from embarrassment to aargh, as the procedure was a tad more painful than I'd expected. Fortunately it only took about 2 mins to complete (compare that against the 5 hours it apparently took to complete the tattoo on Sarah's right forearm....)
Then it was Liz's turn. The outline she'd chosen was a small boat. She was extremely calm and very brave whilst her tattoo was being done. There did seem to be an awful lot of ink swishing about, but once it was wiped away, the little boat came to life on Liz's foot and it looked great!
Liz and I were both given little pots of tattoo healing cream, and off the three of us went to celebrate with a bottle of prosecco. For the past few days we've been tending to our tattoo sites and watching them settle down. One week on, here they are........I've put a 5p piece against mine so that you can see how tiny it is.
Hold on a moment, it's just occurred to me that I'm nearing the end of the blog and I still haven't answered a key question - why oh WHY did I decide to have a tattoo?? Well........I think it's fair to say that I wanted to include an item on the list that was a bit 'left-field' (as Jonathan has so nicely put it). But as importantly it's given me a permanent reminder of my slightly crazy but very special sixtyat60 year - added to which it's a celebration of 38 years of wedded bliss to that 'hearty' husband of mine!
A big hug and thanks to Liz for being the perfect companion/partner in crime on Task 13 and to the rest of my family for tolerating this quirky idea of mine. And the last word on Tattoogate from my chief critic Lucy? When asked yesterday how she feels about my tattoo now, she admitted that she's 'come round to the idea'. Oooh - now what tattoo was my neighbour Rebeccca suggesting I could have on my left hip?
I'm doing the sixtyat60challenge to raise funds for Alzheimer's Research UK. For further information or to make a donation please visit my JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/Vivien-Hunot
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