I’m in the pro­cess of get­ting another set of post­cards made of some of my digital work (the first set is here), so I thought I’d write a little about each image I’m including.

The first such image is a simple one, but it car­ries a time­less mes­sage that I think speaks to all of us: squid make great bath-time bud­dies.

I mean, are there any two things that go together as well as a nice sooth­ing bath, with scen­ted soaps and maybe candles, and a large aggress­ive oceanic predator?

Wait … hang on … I think I may have spot­ted a minor flaw, here.

Squid live in the ocean. They like cold salty water, not warm soapy water! The soap might hurt their eyes, the water wouldn’t have the right min­er­als, and if you like your baths hot, the squid might think you were pre­par­ing cala­mari. That would hurt it’s feelings.

Okay … let’s think … new, slightly revised, mes­sage: squid make great bath-time bud­dies, provided you use child-safe soap, and keep the water cold and salty.

Good. I’m glad we settled that. Now there’s no danger of your large aggress­ive oceanic pred­ator with a beak like a bolt-cutter being made uncom­fort­able by the bath-time experience.

Uh-oh … another thought … about that beak … squid are actu­ally fear­some pred­at­ors. What if it gets hungry? They’ve been known to have a go at people, which might put this timeless-message-that-I-think-speaks-to-all-of-us on a tricky legal footing.

Okay … don’t worry … I’ve Googled it, and it turns out that divers who spe­cial­ise in deal­ing with large squid wear a spe­cial mesh armour (it’s actu­ally anti-shark armour, but the squid don’t know that). So simply pop a suit of chain­mail on before your bath, and you’re good to go.

So to recap: squid make great bath-time bud­dies, provided you use child-safe soap, keep the water cold and salty, and wear a chain­mail suit (sold sep­ar­ately). It’s a time­less mes­sage that I think speaks to all of us.