Blog

Yesterday, Thursday, October 5, Phil inked my entire left leg in one marathon day, before he headed to Auckland for three-day weekend with a mate to see an R&B concert.

He started on the back of the left leg, with me on my stomach. Moved to the outside of the left leg with me on my right side. Then onto the front of the left thigh with me on my back. And finally on to the inner thigh, with me rolled towards him, my left leg rotated out.

A bit like a rotisserie, always facing the flame of his inking gun.

At the end of the day, Phil said, “Could you lift your balls a bit, so I don’t crush them.” Not something you hear every day!

I compiled gracefully, grabbing the pouch of my G-string with my hand, and Mark snapped a photo of Phil at work on the sensitive skin of my inner thigh right by my man bits.

A long day, six hours on the table, with the most pain early in the morning on my upper hamstring and later in the afternoon on my inner thigh. But somehow, it didn’t bother me that much. The pain was there, but I knew we had to finish the whole leg—so it would have time to heal over a long weekend—and I just persevered. If I’m well-rested, I manage the pain so much better than when I’m not!

Phil and I both wanted the puhoro completed before the weekend, and by 4 pm, we made it—six hours on the table, lying down for Phil to ink, and standing up on the table so he could draw each new section of horizontal pakati lines, then lying down again. Up and down all day, with a few quick breaks to pee and snack.

Relentlessly focused on finishing.

When Phil counted off the last 25 lines as he inked them, when he said, “That’s it, we’re done!”, I was too tired and in too much discomfort for much of a hurrah.

But that will come in a few days, when the leg has settled down.

The infection last time started on the upper left hamstring, right under my butt, and we’ve just inked that same area again. So I’m focused on keeping my leg bent up while I lie on my back, to keep the skin exposed and stretched on the back of the leg.

Mark should get some good photos of the final puhoro in a few days, which I will post when I have them.