Original Source - Courier Mail
AT THE beach a couple of things become clear. Firstly, lots of us have had good Christmases, me included. Secondly, a vast number not only wear a bit of Christmas pud but also tattoos.
When I was a young fellow, tatts were something that indicated a certain type of person. Rough trade, bikies, would-be toughs or bad actors on Homicide had them. People from the other side of the tracks.
Obviously I haven't kept up with social trends. Tatts are everywhere in fact they're all over the tracks.
They seem popular amongst the young, which sort of makes sense. Body is firm, tatt looks flashy. Problem is, a body doesn't stay that way. You see enough Christmases, you'll understand. Gravity takes hold. Things sag.
Nothing sadder than a saggy tatt. Except a tatt that suddenly appears on an older body when sag is setting in.
Emerging from a dip at the beach, I bumped into a similarly middle-aged actor friend sporting inked green barbed wire with roses entwined around his unremarkable bicep.
"You've got a tatt," I said incredulously.
"A tattoo," my acting chum corrected.
"A Christmas present. Listen Will, it's something different, just a bit of individual expression."
I stared.
He laughed. "Will, not everyone is as conservative as you, you old fart."
Fair enough. But, his tattoo was as individualistic as a lemming parade. Maybe a Christmas tatt is now on the mid-life crisis must-have list. Along with a Harley-Davidson, fast red cars, blondes and all the other clichés.
Maybe people just want to have one - good on them. Maybe it's culturally important. OK. Maybe it's a fashion.
But not all fashion is good. I once wore a skivvy and stubbies shorts to a party in 1989. Me, conservative?
Big fashion tragedy. But I could take off my tragedy.
If I'd chosen to wear the tattoo equivalent of the skivvy and stubbies? Tattoos don't go away. A lifetime of skivvy and stubbies.
Some want a tatt as a memento. What's wrong with a tea towel or snow dome? Me, conservative?
Apparently tattoos were popularised by sailors from Captain Cook's South Pacific voyages who liked the body art of the locals.
My dad once said, "If you put blokes on a boat long enough they'll end up doing all sorts of odd stuff."
Whether he meant tattooing or other nautical activities I don't know but once at a rugby event an old player from Wagga felt compelled to display his bum as we drank in golden oldie comradeship.
This produced a tattooed image of Yosemite Sam chasing big green ants, crawling away from Wagga's bum.
"Nice tatts," I said.
Wagga nodded his head. "Yeah. Oh you know I was in the navy once."
Captain Cook, you've got a lot to answer for.
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William McInnes is an actor and author.
His latest book, The Making of Modern Australia, is out now.
Original Source - Courier Mail
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