And as we all aim to build back better (the official mantra) how about Lego building blocks for 2022?
With a prompt from my old pal Mr Orlando himself Kevin from Universal who has showcased his Lego Friends apartment.
Lego is the world’s favourite toy and there are ten LEGOLAND parks around the world.
But first our own sets, and as The Son and Heir drops in on on us (or rather drops his washing in on his Mum) a reminder of a time when he called them Talls.
And he spent hours building them.
While Daddy’s Little Girl spent her childhood watching Friends… now if only there had been an exam in that.
Kevin’s collection includes iconic moments from the series including when Joey put on his entire wardrobe, his and Chandler’s fussball table and screechy Janice.
Friends for ever
The Seventh Friend, of course, is New York.
And while the show was filmed in LA the Big Apple is where the Super Six are set.
And Friendies will want to check out The Grand Army Plaza in Midtown West in Manhattan which is believed to be the inspiration for the opening credits dance.
While Bloomingdale’s where Rachel worked as an assistant and The American Museum of Natural History (Ross’s workplace, the Museum of Prehistoric History) are actual well-visited and much-celebrated landmarks.
As is the Friends’ apartment block, well the outside anyways, where you must get a selfie outside 90 Bedford Street, Greenwich Village.
A history of Lego
Lets’ go back to the start then with Leg Godt, as they say in Danish but which isn’t an exhortation to the Almighty but actually means ‘play well’.
And it is of course where the name derived.
Great Dane (and isn’t everyone from that peninsula and its islands thus named?) Ole Kirk Christiansen built his company in 1934 into what has become the most enduring toy on Earth.
And how he isn’t remembered with his own statue (made out of building bricks we’d expect) as Hans Christian Andersen is is an injustice which should be put right.
But there was a set of Ole Kirk’s house from his birthplace in Billund given to Lego employees in 2012.
The beauty of Lego
And the beauty of Lego is obviously that you can build whichever world you like to live in around you.
That applies, of course, too time and history as we were treated too when we emerged out of the first lockdown to visit the Ancient Wonders of the World at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, East Lothian, near Edinburgh.
And also boarded a real Concorde interior and the next best thing got selfies next to a Lego version.
The world’s Legolands
Billund in Southern Denmark is the mothership and has its own hotel.
And although it is not made out of bricks it is a celebration of all things building blocks.
With plenty of surprises for adult and child alike.
My old stomping ground of Berkshire in the south of England is the home of Legoland in England where once I visited the Windsor Safari Park.
Carlsbad (significantly Scandinavian sounding) an hour south of Anaheim is Legoland Central in California, 51 miles from Tampa.
While go north-west of New York City and you’ll get to Goshen for the NY version which is rollercoaster happy.
Around the world between Stuttgart and Munich in Germany you’ll find der Legoland.
While in the land of the talls, Dubai, they celebrate all things Lego.
And in Asia where they love to celebrate the childish, you’ll find a LEGOLAND in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.
Now if you like the world in miniature, check out too the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, the world’s biggest miniature railway museum.
And with that I’m back to dig out the talls for the Son and Heir.