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MY TOURIST TAT
I am universally derided by my family and friends. Why? Because I collect tourist tat.
I’m still not sure why I started but once I did I found it an incredibly easy hobby to pursue. Wherever one goes on the tourist trail one will find a souvenir shop full of the tackiest items one would ever want to see – ashtrays, figurines, T-shirts, key chains, prints, magnets, mugs, stickers, license plates, postcards. Some are tasteful, some are clever and some are just plain pornographic.
As for myself I decided early on that I would apply some basic, entirely arbitrary, rules to what I collected: The items were to be 3-D, so no magnets; the items would cost no more than £4.00, thereby guaranteeing that they would be truly tacky; there would be no snow globes; and, as far as possible they would be immediately recognisable as coming from the destination they represented. This latter rule is quite easy to follow if buying a miniature replica of the leaning tower of Pisa or the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Opera House but more difficult with say a snow capped mountain – was it Mt Fuji or Mt Kilimanjaro? Pagodas and temples were also difficult – Vietnam, Myanmar or Thailand? This latter problem was often solved by ensuring that the name of the destination was emblazoned on the souvenir.
Although I try to strictly adhere to my rules there are occasions when a suitably tacky item isn’t available within my parameters so I do possess the odd snow scene and I do have fridge magnets and in order to obtain the right object I have paid more than £4, but in general all the items pictured on this site do comply with these rules.
I hope you enjoy my collection, it is starting small but is being added to regularly, so keep on coming back for another view of tourist junk.
Part of my collection
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