Ink Spots

Sitting at the front of the bus this morning, I saw a young dad escorting his son onto the bus. As the boy climbed into his seat, his dad waved him off and blew him a little kiss, and I thought that was really sweet. The dad was quite handsome and I noticed he had a big gold ear-ring and tatoos.

And then I realised that this was perhaps an example of a social trend we're seeing more of in the last few years. The rise of ink on people's limbs seems to come from Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse and Fred Durst developing an addiction to the needle. Everyone seems not only to be getting tatoos, but simultaneously not knowing when enough is enough.

I remember little Christina Ricci describing Winona Rider's makeup in 'Mermaids': 'It looks like someone drew on you'.

Are we sliding back to fashions from past ages? Perhaps. I'm sure it has something to do with news stories like this one. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that we're all criminals now, thanks to online filesharing.

It's not just me being squeamish though. I just think the dad this morning would have looked better if he hadn't have let little Wayne loose on his arms with felt tips...