...a little nostalgia, a few surprises (2/365, 2/1/2022)
Today started out overcast. And cold (around minus 2degC when I woke up). The second day of the year in Tokyo is busy--department store sales, people are still going to shrines, and being a Sunday, you can double the usual numbers. I had thought about going out another park, a combination of short bus and train trip...but the weather. Also, the second and third days of the New Year feature the Hakone Ekiden, live on television. It is a relay marathon where the top university teams run from Tokyo to Hakone and then make the return trip the next day. I have an interest in this event because around the time I was here studying as an undergraduate student (last century), my university was at its peak, and always top contenders in this comp. We all got behind the team. They haven't done as well in recent times, but, I still follow along anyway. (Around the same time, back then, the rugby team was also among the top teams, taking out the national championship a few times too. Quite a sporty uni back then.)
Anyway, given the weather and the crowds...and my determination to not do any work, I opted for a morning at home at least, and decided to tackle a box of lego that found its way home here last week.
I was a child of the earlier lego era, some decades ago when the bricks came in maybe a dozen variations, half a dozen colours, not much in the way of instructions, but plenty of imagination. It was our main form of indoor play back in the day, on a rainy day.
Over the years I've watched the bricks develop, syndicated into various forms, and always thought 'it's just not like it used to be'. Anyway, in recent times, well, months really, Lego seems to be aiming for a particular market, a particular demographic, and that might be me. The recent appearances of flowers, cars and a Beatles box (which I haven't entirely eliminated) well, piqued my curiosity.
I have a fondness for flowers (real ones) for decorative and photographic purposes (especially here last two years of largely working from home). And I decided, if not today, then when.
So today, instead of going out very far, with a determination to avoid crowds, and with all the sport on telly (the uni rugby semi-finals followed the ekiden), and consistent with the nostalgia of the day, here we are. Probably more hours than should be confessed, more fiddly than I remember and more parts then...well, many parts. But nice colours.
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| How it started... |
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| But first, a practice run |
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| Right, getting serious, organisation required |
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| Kind of getting through this |
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| How it's going |
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| 54 of those little mauve pieces...54! |
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| Upper level |
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| Spare parts (I hope) |
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| The end (except for a new vase...maybe tomorrow) |
I do like jigsaw puzzles, so I figured this was just a variation on a theme. More in store? Let's wait and see. Tomorrow I'll get out and about, on behalf of this project (after the return leg from Hakone to Tokyo).
Cheers.
Photos on the iPhone 12 mini, (and tweeted in parts).
