Buying tat on holiday

HAPPY FEET


Joined: 18/07/2008
Posts: 416

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 15:30

Holidays are a bewitching time, no more so than when we don our best shorts and flip flops and venture to the local market.

Will we return bearing objects d'art,antique skills or Andalucian treasures? No, well climb back on the tour bus carrying a model of the Taj Mahal made of mussel shells and a raffia camel that emits cigarettes from its rear end, Is it th hot sun that appropriates our good taste or the 8.30am Vodka and tonic,but scan across anyone's shelves and you will spot an offending holiday trinket that queers the eye- embarrassing tat you unpack and immeddiately utter, "What the **** was I thinking ?

My girlfriend said to me recently, "why don't you wear your holiday sarong any more."", And she's right I don't go to the shops in my sarong, espardrilles and sombrero, mainly because I don't want to get stabbed ....

spangles


Joined: 22/10/2008
Posts: 411

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 15:51

You are right Happy Feet. The car boots are full of the stuff.

Another thing is the Local Drink. You drink it for a fortnight and think it's great, but take a bottle of it home -Ugh!

joandjelly


Joined: 24/02/2008
Posts: 2953

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 15:57

Great post and very true. My dad has a piece of quartz type stone with a silver (well metal) camel on it from Tenerife. Absolutely fantastic.

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 16:09

Friend of mine went on holiday to Thailand a few years ago. He came back with a right old piece of 'tat'

HAPPY FEET


Joined: 18/07/2008
Posts: 416

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 16:12

It's a bit like doing a boot sale, you set up all your best bits at the front of the table, and someone will make a hasty bid for a piece of worthless junk worth about 50p , a present your were given for Christmas/ birthday present from an aunt you hadn't seen in years ...

Geoff1131MK11


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 396

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 16:14

No more dinner invites for you Bill if she reads that one!!!!!

timefore


Joined: 01/08/2008
Posts: 495

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 16:22

worst thing, is having to remember to take the offending piece of 'tat' out its hiding place and put it on the mantlepiece everytime that favourite 'relation' (who presented it to you) calls round

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 16:39

Geoff. You're so right. I've shot myself in the foot now. )

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 16:40

timefore. A bit difficult for my friend to put his 'tat' on the mantelpiece. The weight of her would have broken it )

CasaCoco


Joined: 06/04/2009
Posts: 95

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 18:30

Happyfeet, yes, I am ashamed to say that I too have fallen victim to the holiday 'tat' game. I recall (many years ago of course!) flying back from Spain with a donkey tucked under one arm and a guitar under the other...along with the mandatory wooden cruet sets with a hand painted flamenco dancer emblazoned on the bottles, not forgetting the castanets and black lacey fan to match!! Oh dear..did I really just admit to that?



Now, of course, I am much more careful about which sparkly flip flops or piece of genuine 'welcome to....' porcelain (earthenware?) I choose to buy!

The-Wicks


Joined: 27/05/2007
Posts: 2279

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 19:17

Guilty as charged here! Also, why is that when you see things like painted plates, etc. hanging on a restaurant wall they look great and yet when you put them up at home they look horrendous!!



J



Casa - like you, I am, of course, much more discerning these days

clarets



Joined: 08/01/2009
Posts: 752

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 19:28

I've known people come back with all sorts of unwanted"gifts" after paying for things on holiday....guess its the line of work I'm in!

TheSaints



Joined: 28/01/2009
Posts: 1369

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 20:15

Yep know I the feeling well, whent to Kyrgyzstan for a break to get over a messy divorce and came away married.........

The-Wicks


Joined: 27/05/2007
Posts: 2279

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 20:18

TheSaints - we all know you don't mean that



J

TheSaints



Joined: 28/01/2009
Posts: 1369

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 20:23

Jean youre right, it is true but I can not call her holiday tat......

bondi


Joined: 12/07/2007
Posts: 116

Message Posted:
02/06/2009 21:32

I used to collect "holiday tat" as a "tongue in cheek" hobby - I had two window ledges at work and I placed all my treasures on them - from a leaning plastic taj mahal, cigar rest from Cuba, a Pope John Paul snow dome, the list was endless. Then I retired and had to clear the decks so what had amused my colleagues and myself for some years was bundled up in an old antler bag and brought home - some I sold at Boot Sales and some I kept. Yes there is a load of old rubbish to buy when you go away - its one of the attractions - I now look and appraise I cant buy I have nowhere to put it. I also learnt in the last couple of years ago, from a friend, that there is a dept within the Metropolitan Police where you cannot come back from holiday unless you have purchased an unusual souvenir - guess what - they want an absurd piece of tat! I thought I was on my own being strangely drawn to these objects now I can come out of the closet and actually say I am a hoarder of these mementoes.

HAPPY FEET


Joined: 18/07/2008
Posts: 416

Message Posted:
03/06/2009 14:23

http://www.flickr.com/photos/estherase/287606857/



Own up who has bought any of these

fire starter


Joined: 19/06/2008
Posts: 3401

Message Posted:
03/06/2009 15:20

i do collect tat but not personally.

its usually my tc friends who go on hoilday and bring me back the worst sort of gifts, so i have a box full hidden away waiting for new homes.

when we go away i usually come home with silly things often which people have given me, more sentimental stuff but i'm not a big lover of tat, it needs too much dusting.

HAPPY FEET


Joined: 18/07/2008
Posts: 416

Message Posted:
03/06/2009 17:00

Diid anyone see the programe yesterday which was on UK TV about a charity shop, in which they showed the amount of complete utter rubbish some people bag up for charity, the clothes and items were rotton dirty and un sellable, is it the case that some people just cant be bothered to put such items in the bin or take to the local tip, the pensioners who worked in the shop worked very hard but profits were only £12.50 per day !!!!!!!!

fire starter


Joined: 19/06/2008
Posts: 3401

Message Posted:
03/06/2009 17:52

i was once in the bank in the uk, they lady from oxfam was next to me dealing with the manager.

someone had passed them two fake twenty pound notes, which the bank had spotted.

some people have no shame.

HAPPY FEET


Joined: 18/07/2008
Posts: 416

Message Posted:
03/06/2009 19:15

Smashie and Nicey "Its all done for charity eeee Lets Rock !!

Lizzykins


Joined: 15/05/2009
Posts: 11

Message Posted:
15/06/2009 11:37

Hi,



It is a great pleasure in life to be able to buy souvenirs on holiday! My kids always come home with mountains of tat - and of course always expect their treasures to be displayed in the most prominent place in the lounge! Invariably the items always get broken on the way home, so we've had ornaments with no heads or arms, butterflies with only one wing, a cup with half a handle - but these little things - tat yes, but they help make a home - a home is full of memories, of Summer fun, and of childrens laughter!



Lizzy



http://www.ateliermaison.com

decanddyl


Joined: 17/01/2009
Posts: 792

Message Posted:
15/06/2009 21:44

Tat ! Yes always ends up in the charity bag !



What about the presents people give you !!! quite often a tee shirt



Oh no another Tenereffeee tee shirt

halffull


Joined: 26/01/2009
Posts: 571

Message Posted:
15/06/2009 21:51

Glad to say learnt long time ago not to waste my time buying "tat" when my Mum told me not to bother bringing any more home, about 40 years ago!!!!