tatfive

Following the weekend it seemed reasonable that IC and I would spend a couple of days drinking nothing stronger than tea and Tizer, but inconceivable our two days of abstinence would be obliterated by one Father Donaldson of the Catholic Church.

We’d met Father D a few months ago to help us organise the Catholic aspect of the forthcoming nuptials. After our meeting with the priest-overlord in Italy he agreed to let Father D do the ‘wedding preparation.’

Even if I’m not a fan of this organised religion business he seemed okay, he didn’t start giving us grief for ‘living in sin’ and he seemed entirely nonplussed by skull rings and my Slayer tee-shirt that I’d worn especially for the occasion. Even so, I was a little surprised when he called last week and agree us to meet in the pub to do the prep.

We all arrived at 7, IC and I got a bottle of wine and three glasses, FD preferred Fosters and suggested we go out for a fag before things got underway. He gave us the ‘I’ve done my job’ certificate before actually doing the prep. Instead we talked about paedo priests, the ordination of women in the Catholic church, the death penalty (that he was in favour with and I’m not) and beach holidays. At some point into our second bottle and him on his 4th pint he took 30 seconds out of our chit-chat to mumble the required prep, essentially, we’re allowed to enjoy sex but remember it’s primarily for pro-creation purposes and how I’m not allowed to rape IC when I fancy a bit of the other.

By the end, all of us thoroughly pissed, we fondly said goodbye over a last cigarette and went on our way. All very weird, really.

Yesterday I woke with a bit of a hangover, it’d been somewhat negated by a large bowl of Bolognaise sauce the previous evening so I was able to attend the fucking gym at midday without feeling like puking all over the shoulder press. After a shower I took myself off to my appointment at the tattoo parlour in Shoreditch.

I’d not been inked since a less-than-successful rendition of one of my designs a couple of years ago. The design wasn’t at fault but the execution wasn’t 100% to my satisfaction and over the months I decided that something needed to be done about it.

The artist I chose was the same chap that transferred my design onto IC last year, I was happy for him to lead the way this time and he suggested a design to compliment and embellish the iffy one. I was happy with what he came up with and off we went.

In the past I’d always been rather surprised that being tattooed hadn’t really hurt much but this artist was using a rotary needle, admittedly it’s quieter than the coil guns but by Christ it hurt. For a couple of hours I lay on my side whilst ink was applied to my upper time. It was either painful, excruciatingly so, or complete agony. Once or twice I felt the opening chords of a blackout, though I’m pleased to say this didn’t materialise.

IC showed up 30 mins before the end, by now I was almost speechless with exhaustion but at last it was done.

I am very happy with the work carried out but, annoyingly, it’s made the original tattoo look even worse. I forsee another visit shortly.

Bollocks.

Gerry’s stuff to follow after weekend greetings. Weekend greetings.

THE CHART – WEEK ENDING: 05/03/11

NO.
ARTIST SONG TITLE Last Week Weeks On High Pos
30 Cold War Kids Louder Than Ever NE 1 30
29 Neon Trees Animal 19 6 19
28 We Are The Ocean What It Feels Like NE 1 28
27 You Me At Six ft Chiddy Rescue Me 21 5 21
26 The Wombats Jump Into The Fog 15 11 2
25 Beth Ditto I Wrote The Book NE 1 25
24 Pulled Apart By Horses I Punched A Lion In The Throat 24 2 24
23 Children Of Bodom Was It Worth It? NE 1 23
22 The Strokes Under Cover Of Darkness 27 2 22
21 PJ Harvey The Words That Maketh Murder 13 7 7
20 Poly Styrene Virtual Boyfriend NE 1 20
19 Yuck Holing Out 25 2 19
18 Glasvegas The World Is Yours 14 3 14
17 Chase And Status Blind Faith 8 10 4
16 Brother Darling Buds Of May 12 5 12
15 White Lies Bigger Than Us 7 13 1
14 Miles Kane Come Closer 20 3 14
13 Elbow Neat Little Rows 18 4 13
12 White Lies Strangers NE 1 12
11 British Sea Power Living Is So Easy 10 6 10
10 Morning Parade A & E NE 1 10
9 Manic Street Preachers Postcards From A Young Man 11 4 9
8 Cage The Elephant Shake Me Down 5 4 5
7 REM Uberlin 9 3 7
6 Panic! At The Disco The Ballad Of Mona Lisa 16 2 6
5 Hurts Sunday 4 5 4
4 Mona Teenager 6 5 4
3 Two Door Cinema Club What You Know 1 8 1
2 Band Of Horses Dilly 3 6 2
1 Chapel Club Surfacing 2 7 1