I like tattoos. Not all tattoos though. Because I always think they should have some kind of meaning behind them.

I don’t mean as a reminder of that mad night in Thailand kind of memory either. Tribal markings on the lower back or some Chinese letters on the upper arm…nahhhh. That just doesn’t cut it.

It’s art, and art should have a meaning, make a statement and (or) invoke a feeling.

I don’t have tattoos. Purely because there’s no way I could decide on what it would be. I can be fickle. And you have to live with these buggers.

But I’m getting old and before my skin gets too saggy I want to get something. But I still wondered what the hell it would be? Then I realised I don’t have to have a picture/graphic – I can have whatever I want. So there are three things that have followed me through life that I’ve always liked:

1. “Men of few words are the best men”

2. “In vino veritas, In aqua sanitas”

3. And some Younger Futhark runes, that for obvious reasons I can’t type here.

Now I just have to stress about font’s (well except for the runes as you have little choice there).

So what do they mean? Well for the first it’s a snippet from Henry V by Shakespeare. It’s from a speech by ‘Boy’ who claims Corporal Nym “he hath heard that men of few words are the best men, and therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest he should be thought a coward”. Now Nym isn’t a great character in the plays where he crops up. A corporal who eventually get’s hanged in France for looting. It’s not like I want to pull a quote from Henry himself. But I’ve always liked that part of the quote…because I really don’t like gobshites.

I can be a simple soul.

As for the next one. Well theres the danger of it being an ultimate cliche, but I have always judged people how they act when they drink. You can be quiet, you can be loud, you can be funny (or think you are when you’re not) but don’t be an arsehole. To me drink brings out peoples true nature. There’s also a toast I like, “Raise a glass to those merry souls who make drinking a pleasure, who achieve contentment before capacity and who, whatever they may drink, prove able to carry it and remain gentlemen”. But ‘In Vino’ covers it for me.

The third is just for me. And if I was going to get a picture it would be accompanied by a small boars head. Heritage.