please empty your brain below
One of my broadcast engineering colleagues in the IBC let a cleaner recycle a box full of Opening Ceremony media guides (nice spiral-bound things full of notes for commentators) which were going for £50 on eBay at the time. We were joking that his retirement was in that box.

I've got a nice fold-out map of London showing the games venues, picked up from a kiosk in Island Gardens two years ago. A good few pin badges too, but not much in the way of official merchandise because it was mostly really ugly.

martin | 07.04.20 - 7:18 a.m. | #

I have an unused "Plastic Beaker Orange £2.49" with the legend "Dome 2000" and a sketch of the Dome on each side. Bought cheap on the last day before they ushered us out for HM The Queen etc. Really ugly sums it up well.

Willing to trade if it will help complete your set.

CLIFF HALL | 07.04.20 - 7:53 a.m. | #

I treated myself to the Royal Mail framed picture with all 29 stamps of the gold medalists. Still love it and brings back so many happy memories.

Not available for a trade!

David | 07.04.20 - 8:37 a.m. | #

I hope you have tried that tea cosy on as a hat because to quote Billy Connolly "Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on. ”

Barry | 07.04.20 - 8:38 a.m. | #

No swapsies from me, but I do have some half decent Dome 2000 stuff.

NickW | 07.04.20 - 8:41 a.m. | #

I was one of the performers in the closing ceremony, so apart from the blue bowler hat with lightbulb, on my way out of the stadium in the middle of the night I grabbed a canvas with a supermodel on it. I have this one (apparently it's Stella Tennant).
https://youtu.be/ij3sgRG5sPY?t=5690

Never figured out what to do with a humungous truck-sized canvas of a supermodel, so it's sitting in the loft still.

Matthew | 07.04.20 - 8:43 a.m. | #

Many blue lightbulb bowler hats are still in active use by the volunteers drummers from the opening ceremony who kept on going.

I have games-maker-style uniform parts in blue (for technical officials), bagged in some sellout auction at the time. Never worn.

commonliner | 07.04.20 - 9:00 a.m. | #

I managed (semi-officially) to get hold of some of the yellow "Back the Bid" moquette seat covers used in tube trains (District and Jubilee from memory) back in 2005. After many washes I used them to upholster my kitchen chairs.

I'm sorry but they're not for swapping!

Tim | 07.04.20 - 9:05 a.m. | #

In many years time I can see all these items being displayed on a table at an Antiques Roadshow in the remains of the Olympic Park. An expert will be telling a rather older DG just what his collection might be worth.

popartist | 07.04.20 - 9:06 a.m. | #

I have a huge really good quality Olympic rings flag with "Back The Bid" written across the bottom, once we had won the bid and my house was served with a compulsory purchase order and scheduled for demolition I carefully altered the flag to read "F**K" the Bid " and it hung across my garden for a "F**K the Bid" party that I held, the flag has now been returned to its original message and thankfully my house is still standing as they eventually shrunk the site of the games and the area where my house is located was no longer required.

fishislandskin | 07.04.20 - 9:07 a.m. | #

Oh, talking of stamps, I do have a first day cover of one of a gold medal winner from one of the cycling events, along with the ticket from the event. That's not a bad souvenir.

martin | 07.04.20 - 9:07 a.m. | #

what nobodys got all the 50 pence sports collection or all the gold winners stamps

mark | 07.04.20 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Still have my Games Maker kit - with one pair of trousers remaining sealed in packaging if you are 'M Reg' - not sure I am anymore :) Vanity got the best of me and I had framed a couple of items, though the unused, still sealed, swatch watch didn't make the cut and might be of interest. Swapping pins was a popular pastime among the 'Olympic family' but the only one I have is from the 'Bulgarian Paralympic Association' - but she was very cute and impressed that I knew a smattering of her language.

Ah memories... can we move on now from London 2012 as all this nostalgia, coupled with self isolation, is ruining the last vestige of sanity I have LOL

PJS | 07.04.20 - 9:21 a.m. | #

My prize souvenir is a tube of 3 Slazenger tennis balls with the 2012 logo which were used in the competition and were sold off afterwards via the official shop.

I first discovered DG's blog during the Olympics and I remember being grateful for his tip about the much quieter northern entrance which was on the A106 and easily reachable from Leyton Tube station.

David | 07.04.20 - 9:29 a.m. | #

mark My parents gave my sister and I a set each of the 50p coins for our birthday presents which both fall shortly after the Games. I understand a few of them are quite rare?!

Our household also has the mug with a red and white logo. This was purchased en route from the Olympic Park to Greenwich Park as we went to the final events of the Modern Pentathlon.

We were buying or meal deals in a mini supermarket in Greenwich and there were a few mugs left, all at a knock down price, of course. It is still in everyday use, a pleasant reminder of that time. We also got tickets to an early athletics session in the main stadium amongst other events. It was my family's summer holiday that year.

Ken | 07.04.20 - 9:34 a.m. | #

I bought a t shirt at the time, which I still have though it's a bit worn, and I bought a flag which I waved at a couple of events when there were British competitors!

Over the years I've tended to keep the Olympic 50p coins when I've got them in change, I must have about half of them now.

Mikey C | 07.04.20 - 9:38 a.m. | #

i looked on ebay and there are tons of this kind of stuff for sale for very little money. it would be the year 2212 before its worth anything really

bert | 07.04.20 - 9:49 a.m. | #

I’m writing this comment from the same lawn in the northern Olympic Park where I found the firework cartridges. No litter today, just dandelions and the first butterfly of spring.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 07.04.20 - 9:53 a.m. | #

Didn't realise that I would have more in my collection than DG!

I was a Gamesmaker (driving BMWs, mostly full of fresh air!), so have 2 uniforms, bag, brolly, etc. And the Thank you Certificate and Relay Baton, etc.

I bought (most) /swapped (a few) pin badges and have 28!
+ 3 key rings + 3 model taxis + model bus + model tube train.
And a model of the Olympic Stadium (+ a piece of the track [official!]).
And a 1/5th scale replica of the Olympic Torch (2nd Edition).
+ various tickets & other paper souvenirs.

None are for sale/swap - sorry!

John Simmons | 07.04.20 - 10:05 a.m. | #

That pink/purple colour combination (surely only chosen because nobody else had used it rather than because it looked good) was subsequently adopted by London Underground for customer service type people to wear due to its positive associations. The Olympic people were so obsessive and greedy about their brand though that anything dual-branded with their logo on as well couldn't be used, so a lot of perfectly good tabards etc had to be junked.

Ralph Ayres | 07.04.20 - 10:21 a.m. | #

Our 2012 glass tumblers with coloured emblems are still in regular use, as are the oven gloves printed with bits of poster from previous games. The odd T-shirt too. I'm sure some tickets (mostly paralympics) and pink travelcards are around somewhere. I don't know what happened to the Union Jack tea-towels that we used as flags. Crumbs, eight years ago. Time flies.

Andrew | 07.04.20 - 10:40 a.m. | #

Nope - I have nothing ... Therefore, out of interest I did a bit of ebay surfing and found some eye-watering prices for the original 2012 Olympic torches. One purportedly from an original runner now wanting to claw back some cash due to his current employment woes.

Mike | 07.04.20 - 11:03 a.m. | #

I too have a copy of En Route but mine was issued to me officially. I seem to remember that there was a stream of successive updates and corrections which I didn't keep.

HC | 07.04.20 - 11:32 a.m. | #

2012 was the year my family relocated back to the UK after many years living abroad and so were starting from scratch so to speak as far as household items were concerned.
The Olympic related items that I can remember off the top of my head are the 8x 10 oz 2012 glasses given away by McDonalds and which are still in daily use and the Sainsburys Paralympics Bag for Life which is used on a weekly basis.

Cornish Cockney | 07.04.20 - 12:03 p.m. | #

I bought a small London 2012 cool-bag, purely because I used to own a Barcelona 1992 cool-bag which got used so much for school packed lunches that the handles deteriorated and eventually broke off. I'm not sure how good its insulating properties were by the end either.

I have used the London 2012 one approximately three times. Its handles are still very much intact.

Very amused by the positioning of the security sign, DG!

David M | 07.04.20 - 12:23 p.m. | #

Post Script: Am currently tidying a drawer (on the instructions of my now stay-at-home wife) and have just come across a 2012 limited edition Oyster Card.

It celebrates the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, but it's a nice coincidence all the same.

Ken | 07.04.20 - 12:40 p.m. | #

no wonder your mystery count is zero if that's what you have above your bedroom door

Caz | 07.04.20 - 12:49 p.m. | #

Our son was in the junior orchestra set up by the London Symphony Orchestra for the opening ceremony. We have lots of souvenirs from that - lanyards, rehearsal schedules etc. but my personal favourites are the Converse type trainers he was given to wear and a dress shirt (the suits went back to the hire company). As he was 14 at the time of the ceremony and is now 22 (and 6ft 5") I enjoy looking at the shoes and shirt and remembering when he was small enough to fit in to them!

Joan | 07.04.20 - 1:51 p.m. | #

I received my Diamond Jubilee Oyster in the Euston travel centre on maybe my third time in London as part of my process of finding a job here. I moved a month or so later and have been using that same Oyster ever since. It's highly battered and worn now but I'll be gutted if I ever lose it.

Sean | 07.04.20 - 3:24 p.m. | #

Like lots of others, I accumulated masses of tat - programmes, tickets, pins, egg cups, mugs, tea towels and yes a tea cosy.

My prizest 2012 possession is an empty bottle of branded white wine (brazilian, natch) bought and comsumed at the Paralymic Closing Ceremony. I did have a red one too, but seem to have binned it.

Will | 07.04.20 - 6:32 p.m. | #

It is surprising how many cars in our neighbourhood are still displaying the special parking permits issued to residents during London 2012. I still have our permit somewhere but not the vehicle it was attached to; that has long gone to the scrapyard in the sky.

H SE18 | 07.04.20 - 7:42 p.m. | #

I just dumped all mine on ebay for low low prices. I'd have given you the lot for free! Ah well. If more turns up during my lockdown rummaging..

I really liked that London 2012 Candidate City logo. It was much better than what we got.

R | 07.04.20 - 8:57 p.m. | #

“Although workmen had cleared almost everything from this bleak space, one small magenta sign reading Discreet search area (Zone de fouille discrète) had been left stuffed in a corner of the fence. It's not there now - I wonder who took it home with them?” Sunday, December 02, 2012

Rich G | Homepage | 08.04.20 - 3:13 a.m. | #

The only Olympic items I have are 50ps. Like Mikey C 9:38 a.m., I paid 50p for each one, and sold duplicates for £1 or more, reducing my acquisition cost to 0.

John | 08.04.20 - 6:40 a.m. | #

Disappointingly, if you buy something from the Ulster Weavers brand now, it's also made in China.

disgruntled | Homepage | 08.04.20 - 9:50 a.m. | #

Got a small collection of things, some unique as worked for local government at the time, will have to have a root through to see if there's anything swappable.

My most unusual souvenir is bits of tickertape from Trafalgar Square - it was still in evidence as I walked to my offices in Whitehall on 07/07 and I felt the need to grab hold of something tangible to keep me connected to the joy I experienced there less than 24 hours before. They're kept safely in my 2005 diary.

E1W-er | 08.04.20 - 11:17 a.m. | #











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