Souvenirs

[Fnaar]

Kangaroo Scrotum bottle opener anyone?

 

[SavageHoutkop]

A wood carved 'male member' bottle opener.
We bought it

(we were on honeymoon)

 

[vernon]

I have seen some terrible 'art' for sale in various places in the scottish highlands and islands. Yes I really do want to pay £250 for a ropey watercolour...

The tat adorned with saltires for sale at the top of the climb onto Rannoch Moor had to be seen to be derided. It out-tatted anything else I've seen.

 

[Arch]

Hope you had a good time in Wooler Arch. Was thinking of going but had to take Mum to hospital last minute. I did wonder from time to time what the weather was like & where you went to on the Sunday.

The weather was good - sunny and mild on Saturday, sunny and breezy on Sunday. Sat I went over to Belford and the coast an back over the moors, 47 miles, Sun I went with a small splinter group (4 of us) to Etal and the Lavendar Tearooms (22 miles), then back by early afternoon so that we could drive home. Hope your Mum is ok?

There was minor excitement when someone got locked in one of the showers, and after fruitless attempts to undo the lock (the mechanism sheared of inside), the biggest fellers in the group broke the door down, or rather through, it turned out to be one of those interior doors made mostly of cardboard...

As for tat: not a souvenir exactly, but I once saw on the back of a Sunday supplement magazine an offer for a set of 12 wooden thimbles, decorated in pyrography with scenes from the life of Christ....

 

[Cubist]

Papal visits always seem to engender vast amounts of the tackiest shite imaginable. My uncle always used to joke about being able to buy a "Pope on a rope" when he went to Coventry.

The boot (Stiefel) is indeed a German equivalent of a yard of ale. I studied at Marburg Uni for a year. One of the Burschenschaften (sort of like an American frat house, but with sinister overtones) had an initiation ceremony which involved drinking a Stiefel of ice cold lager, then not being allowed to urinate until dawn.

 

[lukepinkhandbag]

Lourdes has to e the worst tat experience of all. I saw a priest bless a St Christopher key ring in the street...Now I'm no believer being a life long atheist but even I found this vulgar. And as fro the 5gallon bottles of holy water folk were bringing home on the plane well lets just not got there!!

 

[Arch]

Ehup Luke! I reckon you snuck back and bought that boot when they were open...

I suspect that any souvenir outlet that has a connection with the Catholic church will be a winner for tat. Staying in a B and B in Ireland, surrounded by pictures of Christ looking whimsical holding his own bleeding heart, you have to admire their way with imagery...

Still, at least you don't often see real pieces of the true cross, or fingers of the saints, these days...

 

[Beardie]

I was staying at a youth hostel in Pembrokeshire recently, and there was a display of local 'art' for sale. I'm all for supporting local artists, using local materials, but I don't think that four pebbles stuck on a lump of driftwood is worth £4.50.

Maybe I shouldn't be proud of this, but I happened to have an interestingly-patterned pebble which I had decided not to keep after all. I put it into the display unseen, and still wonder what, if any, confusion it caused when the hostel warden asked the artist how much to charge for it.

 

[Night Train]

Maybe I shouldn't be proud of this, but I happened to have an interestingly-patterned pebble which I had decided not to keep after all. I put it into the display unseen, and still wonder what, if any, confusion it caused when the hostel warden asked the artist how much to charge for it.

I suppose it depends on the business sense of the artist and the foolishness of the purchaser as to how much it would go for.

I must admit that I have been sorely tempted to do something like that myself. The only thing stopping me is that I am also an artist and wouldn't want someone doing it to me (unless I could sell that bit of abandoned driftwood for £1000).

 

[Beardie]

I must admit that I have been sorely tempted to do something like that myself. The only thing stopping me is that I am also an artist and wouldn't want someone doing it to me

I wouldn't want to be the sort of artist whose work could be mistaken for a piece of random flotsam.

 

[Arch]

I was staying at a youth hostel in Pembrokeshire recently, and there was a display of local 'art' for sale. I'm all for supporting local artists, using local materials, but I don't think that four pebbles stuck on a lump of driftwood is worth £4.50.

Maybe I shouldn't be proud of this, but I happened to have an interestingly-patterned pebble which I had decided not to keep after all. I put it into the display unseen, and still wonder what, if any, confusion it caused when the hostel warden asked the artist how much to charge for it.

Blimey, that sounds like a bargain.

I went on a day trip recently touring artists' studios in the East Riding, on an open day. There was some lovely stuff, ceramics, textiles, linocuts, some beautiful basketry sculptures. But the 'mixed media' paintings.... Sort of roughly plastered canvas with bits in it....

I just wouldn't have the chutzpah to do it, but it would be fun to set yourself up as a serious 'modern artist' and charge people a fortune for a couple of twigs glued to a lamb chop. I have a friend who could do it. He used to do set making for uni am-dram, and when asked why the colour wasn't quite what the director asked for could come out with a whole spiel about how it suited the mood of the piece better, when actually, they'd just run out of magnolia....

 

[Archie_tect]

I have a friend who could do it. He used to do set making for uni am-dram, and when asked why the colour wasn't quite what the director asked for could come out with a whole spiel about how it suited the mood of the piece better, when actually, they'd just run out of magnolia....

Not called Tracy Emin is he?

 

[User169]

Do you know that those African souvenir sellers that you see at popular tourist spots are Senegalese, members of the Mourid sect, which opeartes entirely on a system of verbal accounts and total honesty?

Interesting article here about the Mourides..

http://newhumanist.org.uk/1855

 

[Creamcrackered]

I was in Zimbabwe last month and was constantly pestered by touts offering me 500 Billion Dollar notes as souvenirs. I'm really kicking myself for not buying a few to try on Ebay.
PS I know that chippy in Wooler well.