MARKS OF AFFECTION

Back in the mid 50's I used to have a two-mile bus ride to and from school. My Mum would give me the fare each day but little did she know that I often used to walk home and spend the bus fare on sweets. Those sweets were so good that I have never forgotten them.

There were packets of 'KP' peanuts which cost 2d (two old pence or just under 1p), Flying Saucers filled with sherbet, Sherbet dips which were bags of sherbet with a liquorice stick in them and of course Wagon wheels.

I also used to buy bubble gum. Now there was the big lump of it which always blew the best bubbles but there was also the thin slice which had a special wrapping usable for creating a fake tattoo. It was a good joke the first time when I went home and kidded my Mum that I'd had a permanent tattoo done on the back of my hand.

Thankfully, that is the extent of my experimentation with tattoos. I can understand the attraction. I mean they can even make you money as one lady discovered when she offered her forehead for rent as a tattooed advertisement.

But they are not for me. I can't help feeling that many people who get tattoos haven't thought it through properly.

"Grandma, what does that mean on your arm - 'Get stoned' ?" or worse "Granddad, why have you got a picture of a willy on your back?".

A tattoo can seem like a good idea at the time but as Susan, a lady friend of mine found out, when love dies, it can be costly to remove a tattoo proclaiming your undying passion for an old flame. She is happily married now with two kids but in her youth she tried out lesbianism. Her first girlfriend became the love of her life and as a token of this, she had a prominent tattoo done on her arm.

Imagine the scene when many years later, she went to meet her boyfriend's parents sporting a large tattoo announcing her love for a girl. On this occasion however, she was lucky. Her ex-girlfriend's name was Georgina who was better known by her nickname. The tattoo said "I love George" - phew!