My old Lego

I was showing Aoife some of the old Lego that I had when I was her age (and a little bit older). It’s amazing how much progress has been made in the last thirty years.

I remember this Fork-Lift Truck very clearly – from Christmas 1978:

I thought this was absolute magic – and I was hooked.

The other model I remember with fondness was this Unimog:

I remember winning a Lego building contest at Lewis’s Department Store in Birmingham in mid 1981. The prize was supposed to be some fantastic Lego worth £25! (That was a lot in 1981!)

I built a four stroke engine with the correct firing order – but because I was under ten I got some little kids Lego instead of what I really wanted. My old dear ended up talking to the manager of the toy department and getting me this Technic Unimog instead. It was something like £22.50 at the time.

The building instructions for both are available on-line – and you can order the pieces from Lego too! I might splurge and get both.

Aoife’s reaction was funny. She said the Fork-Lift was not very good – and didn’t look like a Fork-Lift. She said the Unimog was better.

Sadly the Lego was sold when I was away at University – never to be seen again.

Aoife, the Science Fair and aspirations

Aoife loves Time Team. She has decided that if she is not going to be a ballet dancer then she would like to be an archaeologist. She even takes Hugo outside into the garden on ‘digs’ and they end up digging ‘trenches’ and coming in and washing their ‘finds’.

Science Fair is at the end of February. Aoife and I hatched a cunning plan around archaeology, decomposition and what kinds of remnants would be found in the ground after a civilisation.

Aoife chose a range of materials to test: copper, iron, wood, paper, cotton, some glazed pottery and a coin (some treasure!) Last weekend we went down to the plumbing section of Home Depot to buy $2.00 worth of copper and iron fittings.

Tonight Aoife made careful notes about the condition of each of her artifacts, I took photos – and then she buried all of them in the garden. The plan is to excavate them at the end of February, report on the condition and make an educated deduction on what they would be like in five years and five hundred years!

A record warm January – bulbs and blossom

So far we’re on track for a record January. A combination of El Niño (Southern Oscillation) and compressive warming have made it an average of some 4°C/7°F warmer than usual.

Take a look at Cliff Mass’ blog for the details.

The practical side – it’s been wetter and warmer than usual – more like April. No snow, no frost – and the bulbs and blossom are out already! We usually see blossom for Aoife’s birthday!

I’m hoping we don’t get a snap frost – or even get colder for a month. The soil is warming up nicely – and we could get a real lengthened growing season. (Now I need to work on my planting plan!)