Lego digging

There's a sound I've been hearing a lot lately, and it's a very evocative one: the sound of eleven-year-old hands digging around in a large box of Lego pieces in search of exactly the right component for the latest construction project. People often say how smells trigger powerful memories and instantly transport them back to childhood. I don't really get that with smells - it's sound that does it for me. And for me, the sound of Lego digging takes me back to when the eleven-year-old hands were my own.

I recall the moments of triumph as I found the essential part - the part I was 98% certain was there, yet whose crucial importance lent a marvellous thrill to my search. After all, it's in the nature of Lego that it gets lost. There's natural wastage. The hoover, the sofa, and the bottom of the garden all claim their portion, and you can never be quite sure the piece you require is in the box until it's in your hand. That's all part of the fun. It's what Lego has over Meccano. Somehow, you always keep Meccano sorted into boxes and compartments. You just have to. It doesn't lend itself to all being slung chaotically into one big box. Meccano is in many ways superior to Lego, but you can't deny that Lego's got anarchy.