Now... this isn't quite my normal post with lots of gratuitous photos of L-kun... oh no. This one is for the big boys. Actually, I have to admit that one of L-kun's toys that I spend the most time on is actually our train set.
We bought this (Imaginarium Mountain Pass Train Set) for Christmas over a year ago, and it gets a good working out. And with around 100 pieces, there's plenty of variety - and to be honest we haven't had the track set up "properly" since about Boxing Day. It may surprise you, but we tend not to get branded toys for L-kun... so no Thomas the Tank Engine toys here.
The down side of that is that the trains lack a little pizazz - but the upside is that we get to avoid the evil commercial excesses of the children's toy industrial complex. That and L-kun learns (hopefully) that you can have just as much fun without the hoopla that goes with our overly peer moderated world. That... and these are considerably cheaper (at about 75AUD on sale at Toys R .... well, you know where...). Well - that was the plan at least. The reality is that we're just as taken in by the branding as every other parent.
Actually, we have a bit of an association with trains in our family... but the interest never really stuck with me. Until now that is. Not that I love trains per se....
...But rather, I just enjoy coming up with new track designs that are the most complicated I can make with the track parts that I (I mean L-kun of course) have. It's like solving a new puzzle each time. This track setup took me a long time to get it just right. I hadn't made a new track layout for a few months (with L-kun in Japan) so I was quite rusty. Frustruated I worked on the design for what seemed like a couple of hours (I sure hope it wasn't). L-kun may not have been that impressed in the morning, but I was pumping the air constantly after the last piece fell into place. T-chan must wonder what sort of boy-man she married.
Sometimes I even let L-kun play with the trains as well... sometimes. Toot toot, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment