Observation: I Blame Lego.
My Foray into design and construction started with “Lincoln Logs”. As the name suggests, a set of Lincoln Logs contained a package of small round columns of wood, limited to constructing Abe Lincoln style log cabins. From here I graduated to red “American Plastic Bricks”, which came with white plastic windows, suitable for constructing one room schoolhouses and simple small post war bungalows. But I didn’t truly hit my stride until I was introduced to Lego. Ah Lego, wonderfully unlimited multi coloured blocks of plastic, capable of providing endless creations, limited only by your imagination (and my diagnosed perfectionist tendencies). You see, I had an issue with the multi-coloured features of the toy. There were red blocks, white, blue and yellow blocks – what the f*ck were you supposed to do with yellow blocks? I would carefully separate the colours and hope that I had enough white blocks for the façade of my creation – the front if nothing else had to look like a proper home – no crazy Dr. Suess building styles for me! The sides and back of the home could, when necessary, utilize the remaining unnatural colours in hopes that no one would look beyond the street view and see the homes embarrassing, non-conformist side, but the front, for God’s sake, it had to be right! What were those Danish inventors thinking?
As a child, Lego was expensive, and my set, although deluxe, was very limited – it came in a cellophaned topped box containing a blue plastic molded tray of some six compartments, greatly satisfying my anal-retentive childhood obsessions, allowing sufficient compartments in which to organize by colour and shape. Lego add on sets were something the budget just did not support, and I don’t think my parents ever understood a need for additional blocks. “Why spend money on something you already have?” was their logic; “You already have Lego, pick something else for Santa to bring.”
At 13, I did start babysitting the neighbours three boys, which was a treat as they had more Lego than I did, and we would spend the evenings building and creating – I generously let them have all of the yellow “golden” pieces.
My brother, who was not a lover of Lego, was provided with Mechano sets, which consisted of various sized metal girders and wheels with an assortment of nuts and bolts to assemble the various parts into frames of structures, which when completed, well, … looked like the unfinished frames of structures. I never understood this one – what fun was there in that? My brother of course evolved into a Professional Engineer and I, a frustrated architect wanabe.
Note to parents: choose your children’s toys well as you never know how you are molding their creative little minds.
