Monday 2 July 2007

A Hole New World


I wonder sometimes, what my blogging niche is; looking back over my posts there is quite a pot pourri of subjects; there does seem, however, to be a theme developing: the unstoppable march from middle age into the Saga years. Perhaps that's it: if you are on the journey through the middle years, feeling lost and anxious, I will be your guide and friend. I can quite see myself as fearless reporter for the mature reader, prepared to experience and tell you about the wilder side of gardening or how to choose your mid life crisis - goodness knows I seem to be trying a few. And that brings me smartly to my next subject.

You may remember me mentioning that my favourite shop name is Holier Than Thou: a body modification centre on Oldham Street, Manchester. Feeling it would be churlish of me to not understand what they do, I did a bit of research and was, well, enlightened about the amount and type of body modification that can be achieved. It seems that all you need is imagination and a strong stomach. Gone are the days when it was cutting edge to have anything more than a couple of ear piercings or a safety pin in your nose. Whilst I might have considered my single ear lobe hole as daring at the time I have to say that what I saw, stood before the window of Holier Than Thou, made it all same very small beer.

Bus passengers seeing me stood, fascinated, like a child at a toy shop, must have smiled thinking I was plucking up courage to have a bone inserted through my nose or a large hole stretched into my earlobe, but I was simply dumbfounded by the range of possible modifications and jewellery to adorn them. Body modification has moved on, really moved on - or in some ways moved back, because the expansion in modification has embraced traditional techniques used for thousands of years in tribal Africa. There is barely a place
on your body that cannot be pierced, stretched or have artistic scarification applied to it.

My research - on your behalf - has in many cases relied solely on the strong stomach developed whilst a nurse to stop me evicting the contents of my stomach. I include here a couple of links if you wish to follow my path into some of the more bizarre areas of body modification; but be warned, the extreme edges of this art are a mixture of eroticism and masochism: pictures of the DIY end of the market are not pretty. Bmezine is a magazine type website for fans of body modification, there are a host of user submitted gallery photographs - do not go lightly into the Extreme or Hard areas of the sight; another interesting site is Infinite Body Piercing that is a very practical introduction to techniques
and possibilities: a good place to go if, after reading this post, you are tempted.

Having had my fill of body modification on Oldham Street, I concluded with a
stroll down Shude Hill to Victoria Station for my train ride home. Walking along Shude Hill I passed Rambo's Tattoo parlour, a very popular venue for those wishing to make a statement in non-fade American inks; it has been the venue for mid-life statements of many colleagues of mine. I have to say it all looks a bit tame now compared to Holier Than Thou, not least because, thoughtfully, right next door is the laser tattoo removal centre.

Thankfully I am tempted by neither tattoo nor piercing but if, at a weak moment, I was to indulge I could do a lot worse than Holier Than Thou - it all seems very clean and professional.







5 comments:

70steen said...

You and I are of a similar age & dread that call from Saga. I have decided that I am of the wilder side of growing up. I do have tattoos (only 2 and situated for only the invited viewer. Piercings, however, do bring me out in a cold sweat (thankfully not a hot one yet!!), I had my ears done eons ago and my teen daughter is forever nagging me for 'you and me mum, come on lets get our belly buttons done'. I have successfully managed to move the date of this from her being 16 to 18 and by this time Saga will be a knocking at my door... so then I may definately choose a less wilder path (I hope)

Bill Blunt said...

Let me know when the offering of a free piercing of your choice comes through, Crofty!

I think, indeed, you have found your niche. We who need guidance through our mid-life crises are legion...

Anonymous said...

What a great name for the purpose, aren't people ingenius.
Can I join the legion? :)

Anonymous said...

My OH has just had his "mid life crisis" tattoo. You should have mentioned it before, you could have gone in together and offered moral support!

As for piercings, an ex colleague of mine had one of his nipples pierced, unfortunately he had an accident and had to have some x-rays. The doctor wasn't at all concerned about his non broken ribs, but very alarmed by the fact he seemed to have a piece of metal stuck into him. The nurse took the doctor to one side to gently explain!

Crofty said...

I must say I like Thomas H's idea about being legion. I quite fancy us all being legionnaires; we could have a uniform and everything. And we've already got our own disease for when we are of the age when we become infirm!