Play Time

Construction toys were never really childhood favorites for me. I remember fooling around with Tinker Toys and Ringamajigs. I mostly built crazy towers and other unwieldy structures. Lincoln Logs were a bit better because they easily led to the creation of fairly decent looking log cabins but they got boring after awhile. It was Legos that were the real heartbreakers. My brother would get these great big boxes filled with Legos and would while away the hours creating all kinds of things. The possibilities always seemed so endless, the promise so great. And all I could usually manage were walls and maybe the occasional boxy building. I wanted to make castles, villas, space docks and the like but what I got mostly looked like the more depressing fifties and sixties style industrial buildings. Not even my imagination could salvage them so I soon gave up.

I gave up too soon because I missed the era of the Lego building set. The plans help those of us who have problems creating in three dimensions. Every year for Christmas Adam gets a set. I've watched him build elaborate cars, ships, and so on. It was fun to watch him but I never felt the urge to participate...until we went to the Lego store in Chicago and I saw some of the town kits. I knew I had to have one.

I ordered the Green Grocer set and after things settled down after semester's end, Adam and I began construction. The initial unwrapping proved to be a bit daunting. I am glad that I had seasoned backup or I may have retreated. Three booklets and a bunch of little bags filled with lego pieces made quite a pile.



The keys seem to be organization and perseverance. Adam is more methodical than I am so he took the lead. He was also more familiar with the directions: a series of pictures. I handled most of them pretty well but there were times I got a bit stumped. Most problems were solved relatively quickly and the building started to take shape. It was really quite gratifying.

What I like the most are the little details. The first floor is the grocery store. It has bins with tiny carrots, croissants, and bananas. There are coolers, a cash register, a lovely tiled floor, and in the vestibule there are mailboxes complete with envelopes that you can put in the slots. What won my heart was this:



The picture isn't very good, but what it shows is a mousehole under the stairs, complete with mouse and wedge of cheese. Ridiculous! Later on we would build a little fireplace (with a nice little fire) for the first floor of the apartment, a grandfather clock and radiator for the second floor, a grill and patio furniture for the rooftop, and a lot of other little details. Adam really liked the curtains and the fire escape. I'm partial to the bay window and the awning.

It is ingenious how they use pieces for different things in different kits. Goblets and skeleton arms are used to create architectural features like railings. I liked seeing how these odd little bits would be put together to create something surprising.

The mini-figs are darling as well. I was very excited to see the little kitty. It should help keep the mouse population under control. We did discover that there is no baby mini-fig for the carriage so we decided to create one with some leftover pieces. It is a little ghetto but I think it is better than having a poor mini-fig push around an empty carriage. That just seems too tragic.

Over the course of a few evenings Adam and I completed the building. I had a great time. It was nice to sit down with my sweetheart for a few hours and do something out of the ordinary. It took many years but I finally got to make something cool out of legos!





Revisiting childhood can be a fine thing and I suspect that I will get another set. There is a Corner Cafe that I have my eye on. Maybe next year.