My favorite Lego set is the 1978 classic castle 375, or maybe it’s my most nostalgia ridden set? I purchased this set on sale from Myers in the Sydney CBD when I was staying with my Aunt in Fairfield.

My Uncle Nick took me shopping so I could spend my country mouse money in the big city. I bought this set, a lego technics Buggy, a technics motor, and a plastic dinosaur model kit of a triceratops. It was a once a year splurge that accompanied my yearly Sydney holidays, and I can remember so many of those weeks more clearly than most things that ever happened during the rest of the year in the country.

I remember sitting on the floor in the front room, after locking the door to prevent being interrupted by my Aunts small army of Pomeranians, and building for hours. Lost in my own bright yellow medieval castle. I of course used the technics motor and gear kit to automate the drawbridge, because I was that kind of child.

It’s was very relaxing to just take some time to build the castle again. No music, no distractions, just a pile of bricks and an instruction manual that only confused me a couple of times, and a few adjustments because the stickers where already applied so those pieces needed to go in a different order.

I remembered at the end that the other knights are in a box with the jousting set, and that’s in the top of a cupboard I haven’t gotten to yet, so I’m going to have to wait till I have time to do a full Lego sort to get the whole kingdom organized, but this was a pleasant way to spend an hour. I can see scheduling a bit more time to do this kind of thing next year, it’s been far more effective at quietening my mind than meditating has been recently.