We went to Toy R Us on Friday. My husband was a bit subdued because he was worried about his friend who is ill, but it didn’t take long before he was like a kid in a toy shop, in his case a very big kid! They have a Lego themed feature wall with giant sized Lego men looking down on the shoppers. My husband loves Lego and I was sure he would spot the digital camera made to look as if it was built from Lego bricks and the light that is like a pile of Lego bricks. He had passed the feature wall before he brightened up so he missed them, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they find their way on to his Christmas list.

The real purpose of the visit was not to provide a distraction for my husband, I needed to buy Christmas and birthday presents for my nephew and niece. My daughter came with us and I hoped that she would help us to choose suitable gifts, it is surprising how soon you forget what sort of things interest a particular age group when your own children are well past that stage. Jack is four and the sort of child who never sits still, he loves cars but he has so many that choosing something that he doesn’t already have would be almost impossible. There was a fire engine set with lots of accessories, it made three different siren noises, Jack would have loved it but my sister in law would never have forgiven me! My daughter led me to the back wall where there was a huge display of Playmobil, she eagerly pointed out all the sets that she used to have and declared that Playmobil was the best toy ever. After a long discussion we decided on two different Playmobil sets, one for his birthday and one for for Christmas.

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We noticed that we had mislaid my husband somewhere in the store. He wasn’t hard to find because he was wearing one of his more vivid tops. He had strayed to the other end of the back wall where every kind of Lego filled the shelves. A Lego Technic set had caught his attention and he was very reluctant to be dragged away. We didn’t manage to drag him very far, he dug his heels in as we passed the Hornby section and he began to tell us all about the trainsets he had when he was young. The only time the age difference between us really becomes noticeable is when we talk about our childhood. I was born in the 1960’s and he was born in the 1970’s, so our memories of toys and games are very different. He loved his Tonka toys, Hornby trains and Corgi cars, I have happy memories of my Tiny Tears, my Britain’s Farm and my Mousetrap game. We left him looking longingly at model trains while we went off to choose a present for a very bright and sophisticated nine year old. It proved very hard to choose, but my daughter reminded me of how much she and her sister loved the craft kits that enabled them to make lotions and potions, soap making was a special favourite. I used to like craft kits too, I had a lovely candle making kit, but my favourite was a kit to make resin key rings with shells and other trinkets set inside the plastic. In the end we chose a perfume making kit and a fashion design set for my niece.

My husband was reluctant to leave, he had to check out the multi media section, then when I thought I would grow old waiting for him he dragged us off to look at bikes. The thought of him on a bike filled me with horror, some people are just not designed to wear Lycra! I needn’t have worried he took us on a trip down memory lane, he recalled the bikes he had when he was young, a Grifter first then a BMX. As far as he is concerned bikes are not as much fun these days.