The Little World

Blocking out the negativity…

If I had 1/10,000 of the money that the Lego corporation has, I would be able to buy their products. As it is, I can only press my nose to the window outside the Lego shop and watch the happy people inside. I am actually grateful for that pane of glass, as it separates me from madness.

Please don’t think I am dissing LEGO. Heaven forbid – I would be horrified if I thought the Danish mafia were stalking me. It is one of the reasons why I long ago stopped making fun of Bang & Olufsen. I didn’t want to be hit with a teak and stainless steel club.

But back to LEGO. It would appear that there are Lego kits for any number of cars and other vehicles. The Model Car Sunday had a section devoted exclusively to them. I do not know whether the models on display were the product of the modeller’s imagination or built up out of kit sets…but it makes not practical difference; the results are gorgeous. One can only hope the builder had enough money left over to eat for a few days. Lego models surrounded by wasted corpses is not a happy thought.

As you can tell, I do not build the Big L. I did make things with Minibricks and Skyline and Dux when I was a kid – and would again if they were still available – but Lego has never appealed. I did visit their factory show grounds in Denmark in 1973, but that was in the old red/blue.yellow days before they became a societal addiction.

I privately wonder whether any of the people who cheerfully slot together the plastic Danish kits would also get as much pleasure from scale model building with other materials. Have they tried and failed? Has the Big L blocked the light of other hobbies?

Are they allergic to curves?