The Power of the Plastic Brick

A long time ago, in a county not too far away was a 7-12 year old boy called balenolad. He lived in a suburban home and looked forward to each birthday or special occasion where he may, if he was very lucky (and he usually was) receive a fab Lego set. Never one for doing team sports, or any sport for that matter, young balenolad would spend hours, by himself (aahh) with his favourite little plastic bricks. He would then spend ages meticulously creating the car/plane/machine detailed in the glossy instruction booklet and then proudly show it off to his parents who were always 'impressed'. Personally I think they were happy that I could be amused for a few hours with little interaction and to be honest I dont blame them!

There was one time when the young balenolad built a fab motorised windmill that was rather top heavy - with the battery operated motor and the rotors. The choice of switching it on atop my parents' glass covered coffee table may not have been the best in hindsight. This was confirmed when the plastic struts holding up the main windmill broke free and the motor etc came tumbling down breaking balenolad's mum's table ornament. It was lucky that the lad's parents were in a forgiving mood that day as there was no punishment dealt out. Ahhh, the humble lego set. Ahh memories of simpler times.

The picture to the right, is in fact, the LL928 and not the bloomin' 497 Galaxy Explorer. It was just the LL928 and didnt have a name. I fear this one may be the coding from another country, probably the USA. Either way this was probably my most memorable set and again takes me back to times gone by



Ahh, that's better - thank goodness I found the real thing - 928. Phew.



These days it's a whole different ball game. There are so many different Lego types around, many being unashamed film tie-ins such as Star Wars, Batman and Indy. In case you havent noticed, Lego now also produce clothing, household items, character keyrings and more video games than you can shake a stick at.

This has all lead me back to my childhood wishing I could just go out and buy Lego again - playing it all by myself - me me me me. This wish was semi-fulfilled recently when my 6 year old lad was bought a Lego truck for his birthday. He didnt realise just how much I enjoyed helping him put the thing together, piece by piece. As for feeling the solid connection between each brick - it was bliss! How sad am I?

Being able to buy Lego Star Wars for my PS3 was another thing I could do to hang on to my Lego addiction of old as was the more recent Lego Indiana Jones game. I have also just replaced by Lego Darth Vader keyring with the new Indy one, much to my (and my son's) joy.

There are so many nostalgic items out these days to send thirty-somethings back to the late seventies and eighties, and Lego is just a tiny portion of that money making machine.

I'll go now and maybe one day, sometime soon, i'll go onto the Lego website, build my own set online and buy it. Oh for the love of Denmark!