Summer 2012, I'm searching for something in an upstairs wardrobe when - what's this?
"Darling, why is there a Lego Harry Potter book in the wardrobe?"
"Oh. It's for you, for Christmas."
"!"
"You like Harry Potter"
It's true, I like Harry Potter. But I can't remember when I last played with Lego. I'm nearly 40. Why has she got me a Lego book?
Skip forward to Christmas day. I'd forgotten all about the book. But she had also got me two Lego sets; Hogwarts Viaduct (4867) and Forbidden Forest (4865). I think I started the Hogwarts set after lunch, and finished it that evening. And then I turned to the book and started to pick the other sets that I wanted.
So at least my wife is to blame for my Lego problem.
A year and a bit on, and I've now a few more Harry Potter sets (but none of the large ones), and most of the LOTR and the Hobbit. And I'm getting to the point where it's becoming difficult to keep all the sets separate. I don't have room to keep them all out, and if I do my three year old daughter messes them up (sorry, I mean she plays with them). I think I just need to bite the bullet and merge my Lego collection. That's the right thing to do, isn't it?
Thinking back to the Lego I had as a child, I know I had a castle (which was enclosed with four walls, but wasn't yellow). Looking at the 1984 Castle sets, several of them are ringing bells. So that puts me at age eight or nine. I also remember a petrol station and other town sets (and my favourite minifig had a red cap and I called him Jerry). It might have been 377, no more likely 6371. 6363 also looks familiar. Ah, now 6373 I definitely remember (although I think it was technically my brother's). It was only a few years ago that my parent gave my old Lego to a neighbour who had a young boy. Is it bad that I asked if I could have it back? (pretext that my daughter would like it) Oh come on! They said he still played with it, but hopefully I've done enough for them to think of me when he finally doesn't!
So onto my daughter. She shows a passing interest in my sets. A little less interested in the Friends sets I got her, but they did make an appearance when I recently bought her the smallest of the new Disney princess sets. I'm banking on these swaying her, but I'll wait until Amazon do 40% off. Three's probably a bit young in any case.
So now I'm mostly waiting for the newest Hobbit sets to get discounted, and thinking about how to store all my parts when I finally get the courage to mix all my sets together. For the discounts, Brickset's 'View discounts in the UK' is invaluable - I think I check it every day. For the courage, the encouragement from some wiser AFOL would probably do :-)
Oh, and I'm in Hampshire, UK.
"Darling, why is there a Lego Harry Potter book in the wardrobe?"
"Oh. It's for you, for Christmas."
"!"
"You like Harry Potter"
It's true, I like Harry Potter. But I can't remember when I last played with Lego. I'm nearly 40. Why has she got me a Lego book?
Skip forward to Christmas day. I'd forgotten all about the book. But she had also got me two Lego sets; Hogwarts Viaduct (4867) and Forbidden Forest (4865). I think I started the Hogwarts set after lunch, and finished it that evening. And then I turned to the book and started to pick the other sets that I wanted.
So at least my wife is to blame for my Lego problem.
A year and a bit on, and I've now a few more Harry Potter sets (but none of the large ones), and most of the LOTR and the Hobbit. And I'm getting to the point where it's becoming difficult to keep all the sets separate. I don't have room to keep them all out, and if I do my three year old daughter messes them up (sorry, I mean she plays with them). I think I just need to bite the bullet and merge my Lego collection. That's the right thing to do, isn't it?
Thinking back to the Lego I had as a child, I know I had a castle (which was enclosed with four walls, but wasn't yellow). Looking at the 1984 Castle sets, several of them are ringing bells. So that puts me at age eight or nine. I also remember a petrol station and other town sets (and my favourite minifig had a red cap and I called him Jerry). It might have been 377, no more likely 6371. 6363 also looks familiar. Ah, now 6373 I definitely remember (although I think it was technically my brother's). It was only a few years ago that my parent gave my old Lego to a neighbour who had a young boy. Is it bad that I asked if I could have it back? (pretext that my daughter would like it) Oh come on! They said he still played with it, but hopefully I've done enough for them to think of me when he finally doesn't!
So onto my daughter. She shows a passing interest in my sets. A little less interested in the Friends sets I got her, but they did make an appearance when I recently bought her the smallest of the new Disney princess sets. I'm banking on these swaying her, but I'll wait until Amazon do 40% off. Three's probably a bit young in any case.
So now I'm mostly waiting for the newest Hobbit sets to get discounted, and thinking about how to store all my parts when I finally get the courage to mix all my sets together. For the discounts, Brickset's 'View discounts in the UK' is invaluable - I think I check it every day. For the courage, the encouragement from some wiser AFOL would probably do :-)
Oh, and I'm in Hampshire, UK.