Columnist Alun Newman: My dream tattoo would be like John Wick meets Countryfile

I’m talking about tattoos. I never, sadly, had the confidence.

I did once go into a tattoo studio because I was fed up with forgetting my children’s birth dates. I thought the permanence and the pain should do the cognitive trick. However, I got overwhelmed. Plus, I had to choose a font style, and that decision alone was enough to make me feel dizzy.

As part of a new series called ‘You and That Tattoo’, I have been hanging out in tattoo studios, getting stories from people who are either having a tattoo or having one removed.

It's interviews whilst under chosen duress! And it has been fascinating.

Firstly, the skills of top-level tattoo artists are amazing, like the years of practice needed to shade a chosen image so it perfectly curves over a portion of the human body.

I was unaware and stunned by some of the beauty and talent that is available.

When it came to tattoo removal stories, they were a combination of mistakes made while young, mistakes made on holiday, people who had fallen out of love, and Celtic patterns that seemed like a good idea at the time.

For removal, the laser crackles as the technician slowly follows the line of regret. It also creates an interesting aroma and is more expensive than having one put on in the first place.

One lady I interviewed was having a tattoo of some song lyrics removed because they were quite simply wrong, and it had always bothered her.

I met a lovely fella named Marty who, in his fifties, was having a large Liverpool FC crest tattooed around his right leg.

It was going to take two to three days at quite a cost as well.

My first thought was he’s obviously a big footy fan. However, the story went far deeper. When Marty was in his teens, his leg was very badly burned by an acid spill at work.

He would say to himself that, at the time, he was glad he didn’t lose his leg.

As time passed, he became a dad, and his family was number one not just for his focus, but also for his finances.

All that time, he was very self-conscious about the scar from the burn, rarely wearing shorts - he didn’t like people asking questions.

Now, with money he’d put aside, his children are older and no longer need support (cash!) and it was time to deal with the issue.

The tattoo was to cover the scar. In his words: “This year. It will be the first time since I was 19 that I can walk on Bournemouth beach in shorts.”

I’ve now spoken to so many people about tattoos, and one thing is for sure - for many people, there is far more to the picture, than the art we see.

There’s a story behind that ink.