First of all, I suppose I should apologize for not blogging since the start of November. There are a whole host of reasons, none of which I'll get into now. Perhaps my New Years resolution will be to blog at least once a week or something.
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Anyway.
This time last week, Wheelz and I were getting tattoos, our Christmas present to one another. It's something we've been meaning to set up since... well, last Christmas, actually. We bought each other a voucher for Christmas last year, and tried to set up our appointment's in February, around the time of Wheelz's birthday. But the studio that we'd bought the vouchers on ended up messing us around, and then there was everything with our home situation, and Lil Monster and... it didn't happen.
So this year, we were determined to make it happen, even if it meant we had to go before Christmas. Especially if we had to go before Christmas, because it meant we could be sure that Lil Monster wouldn't be around.
So after looking around online, we bought each other a one hour session at Cannock Ink. Both Wheelz and I have plans for bigger, lengthier tattoos than can be completed in an hour, but we didn't know the studio that well, and decided to err on the side of caution.
A day or two after we'd bought the vouchers, I called up to get us booked in. I don't love making phone calls, but this was fine.
As I always do, I made sure to ask about parking and disabled access. The lady I spoke to on the phone said that there was parking nearby, and she'd have to check the disabled access.
I messaged her on Facebook later that day, to confirm our designs and get the info about the disabled access. In her reply, she said that they had an upstairs room, but they had a space downstairs that they could get us into. I said that I'd appreciate it, and as far as I was concerned, we were good to go.
Fast forward to last Tuesday, then. Our appointments were booked for 10:00, so we left out at quarter past nine, after a quick stop off elsewhere to sort something else out. Cannock is only, according to google, thirty minutes or so away, but we wanted to leave time to get lost and figure out parking.
We got to Cannock, and spotted the studio, just before ten. But I couldn't see any parking, apart from at the Aldi down the road. We ended up parked in the Aldi car park, as the only other parking we could see was up a hill, and neither of us fancied trying to get the wheelchair up that later.
In the end, we didn't actually take the wheelchair in. The door wasn't wide enough for it to fit, and there wouldn't have been room for it in the waiting room/ barber shop. Unfortunately, that meant that Wheelz had to walk all the way from the car park to the studio, only for the receptionist to warn us that the chairs sometimes pulled away from the wall and probably wouldn't be safe for Wheelz to sit on. She wandered off upstairs to collect a computer chair. I felt awful for not thinking to check on that before Wheelz came up to the shop.
Eventually, Wheelz was able to take a seat and have a drink before we had to fill in all the forms.
In the past, when I've gotten tattoos, I've been asked to bring in reference images, for the artist to work on. When I got in touch to confirm our appointments, I asked if they needed anything else from us, and they said no. This meant that quite some time was spent hanging around whilst Alex, our artist, trundled up and down the stairs to get images for us to approve before he made the stencils for us. Around an hour and a half after we'd arrived, it was finally time for me to go downstairs and get my ink.
When they'd told us that there was space downstairs, they neglected to mention that they were in the process of moving everything downstairs. That ended up happening whilst I was downstairs getting my tattoo, and Wheelz waited upstairs.
Now, all credit to Alex. He was fantastic. He was incredibly thorough throughout the whole process. I got the chance to check the stencil before he started, twisting my arm this way and that to ensure that I didn't mind the warping. He was a very careful worker, tracing the curves of my design before actually tattooing them, to ensure that they were the right shape. He made sure I got a proper look at it once it was finished before wrapping me up in cling film. He even went so far as to tell me to get in touch if it faded at all, or looked off once it had healed, and that he'd book me in for a free touch up if that was the case. I cannot fault him at all, he was absolutely fab.
Once I'd had a chance to sit for a minute and have a drink, it was time for Wheelz to come downstairs and get her tattoo done. I stayed at her side, having stolen one of the tattooists chairs to perch on, and chatted with Alex whilst he worked. The whole time we were down there, they were moving in furniture, personal fixings and all sorts. It was a bit distracting, truth be known.
Some forty minutes later, Wheelz was done. She loved her art as well, and was told the same by Alex- to just get in touch if there was anything she was unhappy with, and he'd sort it for her. This was an unfamiliar, but much appreciated, practice, which we both appreciated.
We tipped him for the great work, and drove home.
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Unfortunately, I'd happily go back to Cannock Ink if I could guarantee that I'd get Alex again, but Wheelz wouldn't be able to come with me. Despite checking beforehand, there were just too many factors against it. The parking, or lack thereof. There were people who just parked on the double yellows outside, but knowing our luck, we'd be the poor sods who got a ticket for it. Aldi was just too far for Wheelz to walk, and as I said earlier, the wheelchair wasn't a viable option. The set up inside was odd, too. Weird chairs, that you have to warn people about, probably shouldn't be in waiting rooms- just a thought.
If Alex just worked somewhere on level ground, with parking nearby, I could easily see him becoming a go to artist for me; I'm that happy with the piece I got done, and I think Wheelz agrees.
So, with one Christmas present down, and just under two weeks to go... Bring on Christmas!
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