Many animal
tattoos have different meanings other than just a simple picture. The penguin
has a few different meanings; above all it symbolizes strong bonds. Penguins
are very caring and strong willed and will do anything for the family. They
survive and even thrive in a thoroughly hostile environment.
In our own
small family, in spite of separation and divorce, bonds of loyalty and
affection remain firm. Mickey, too, wants a penguin tatt and had I flesh less
feeble I’d probably go for one as well.
But our
penguin story has its origins in pure whimsicality. Shortly after Mickey and I
first met in Paris, an evening stroll took us through the Place de la Concorde
where she remarked on the profusion of pigeons.
Her English pronunciation in those days was less than perfect and it was the
hard ‘g’ that triggered my silly flight of fancy, my suggestion that we should
imagine not the urban scavengers, winged vermin, but instead a huge flock of proud
penguins. It so happened that a while
later in a shopping arcade on the Champs-Elysées we spotted a big plush toy in
the form of a King Penguin which, of course, had to be purchased. [It stands
today, not too much the worse for wear after well over thirty years, inside the
door to my flat!]
So that’s the
back-story, I guess. There’s a penguin pin in the lapel of the jacket I wore
yesterday, and now Jessi has an inking on her ankle to perpetuate the tradition
of a family which is not as dysfunctional as it might be… a tradition which is,
I find, not without a certain charm.
1 comment:
And this is only the start :) But penguin Is developing very well!
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