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jetnotskyfire: Hello from Yorkshire, UK

jetnotskyfirejetnotskyfire Member Posts: 2
edited February 2012 in Introduce yourself
Hi, thought it was about time to stop lurking and start posting. Having had a long dark age I started collecting again late last year. Not sure but one or two names on here seem familiar from the Transformers fandom; I was more into Transformers until recently (hence the name), until they brought out Kre-o and I bought one, found I loved the building and finally realised Lego was the way forward. I'm trying to be selective but have ended up buying loads of sets, having realised how far Lego has come from when I was a kid. The bargains spotted via this website have helped a lot, so thanks for the tips!

My main collecting aims are the CMFs and Star Wars; having said that the Winter Village sets caught my eye as well so I had to buy the toy shop and post office. In real life I'm a geology teacher so I also want the Mining sets, I could use them in teaching! Bye-bye pay packet...

I have a (step-)grandson who is just getting old enough to be interested in Duplo, so the next generation of builders is not far away in our family!

Comments

  • richoricho Member Posts: 3,830
    hello! I am from West Yorkshire originally (a small village outside Leeds), but now in Midlands.
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 4,002
    Ay up! Another vote for a North-East Lego store I hope. Welcome.
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    South yorkshire here *waves*

    Welcome!
  • collect_thatcollect_that Member Posts: 1,327
    If you lot are all off building Lego, whose looking after your whippets?? ;)

    Welcome to the forum, always nice to see another UK member!! :)
  • jetnotskyfirejetnotskyfire Member Posts: 2
    Thanks for the welcomes - and definitely yes, a vote for a store I can actually get to!
    Ay up! Another vote for a North-East Lego store I hope. Welcome.
    Think my OH and my wallet wouldn't be so keen though...
  • JohnnyFiveJohnnyFive Member Posts: 10
    Hey there! Also from Yorkshire, Harrogate to be precise.

    Only recently got into Lego after my daughter wanted a set for Xmas. So far we've got quite a few of the Creator sets such as Apple Tree House etc, VW Camper, Space Shuttle adventure, Maersk Container ship, few of the new City sets and Superhero ones and loads of minifigs!

    Although late to the party, have to say Lego is simply fantastic!
  • LostInTranslationLostInTranslation Member Posts: 5,572
    ^ never too late, the Lego party never stops!!

    Welcome @jetnotofsky (and @JohnnyFive, don't think I've spoken to you before! :)

    Btw, I'm no Yorkshire lass (Midlands-ish, at a push, originally) and now turning into a proper Southerner. My nanna's always telling me how I talk posh now :(
  • richoricho Member Posts: 3,830
    edited February 2012
    @JohnnyFive,

    My brother lives in Harrogate!, well actually a little village on the outskirts.

    welcome!

    rich
  • JohnnyFiveJohnnyFive Member Posts: 10
    @lostintranslation @richo thx for the warm welcome guys! :)
  • CoyotelilyCoyotelily Member Posts: 661
    Now then, hello from Thirsk, another vote for an up north shop from here!
  • ereiamjhereiamjh Member Posts: 182
    'Ow do?

    I'm also a Yorkshireman, but currently in exile on the wrong side of the Pennines. Although it does have the advantage of being a 25 minute train trip from the Liverpool Lego Store.
  • andyscouseandyscouse Member Posts: 365
    Ee, well by th'eck! Welcome!

    I went to Uni in Sheffield, and had a marvellous 3 years there - a great part of the country ...
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    Hello. I dont live up north but ive heard the roads stop at the surrey boarder so for you to buy lego sets is a challenge :-D
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,556
    I'm a southerner, but I live in York. I'd vote for a Lego Store in Yorkshire, might as well make it somewhere central ... like York.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    Wow.... didn't know there were that many "Yorkists" out there. From just outside Detroit here... but I spent 3 summers at Oxford (taking a class for my degrees in the USA)... and I took a 2 day pilgrimage to York.... whose Minster is the largest surviving medieval Cathedral in England (alas, poor old St. Paul's London perished in the 1666 fire).... see the LEG display model of the facade of York Minster (from my LEGO Collectors Guide on CD) below... it's from the 1960s.

    And I bet that very few will remember (you're mostly youngsters here... ;-) when Constantine the Great became Roman Emperor in 313 AD... while in Yorkshire (must have been "on Holiday" for a fortnight)...

    I love Yorkshire... it's... like the Texas of the UK... it's so big!!

    Now about that bloody royal family dispute between the Yorkists and Lancastrian's in the 1400's... Red Rose... White Rose... meh.... damn family squabbles... (we'll leave that for another time).

    Welcome!!

    Cheers,
    Gary Istok
    (who know his English and LEGO history and architecture.... ;-D)
    Trouble uploading Minster image... cuz it's so big!
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    Have I reached some kind of image posting limit? I keep having to downsize the York Minster image and even at 15KB (379x425 pixels) it's giving me a "There was an error uploading the file... most likely because it was too big" message??
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    No i remember constantine becoming emperor. it was a lovely day there were sandwiches and fizzy pop everywhere. Not like today in my day you did something wrong we would crucify them. These days kids have no fear. Bring back crucifiction i say
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    Cucumber Sandwiches no doubt.... ;-)

    That was before the Vikings came in and spoiled it all, and renamed the Roman town Jorvik... raped and pillaged... and opened up a Viking Disneyland called Jorvik Center next to a street that just looks like a Shambles.... they must have gone "beserk" seeing that there were no "right angles" to any of the buildings in that area....

    ... it was enough to send them to a Ragnarök chaos.... and then came the Normans...
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    HEY!..... here we have the York Minster finally... but the Wrexham Wales LEGO model shop didn't get the stained glass quite right... "The Heart of Yorkshire" is missing from the design of the Great West Window.... I guess the Welsh got the last laugh after Edward I went on his castle building spree to subjugate the Welsh in the 1280s...

    ... but I digress....
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    It was cucumber sandwiches. The best kind. none of this marmite nonsense
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    Marmite.... yuck.... the Romans probably brought Nutella.... ;-)

    Well we better end this nonsense... or our heads will end up on a pike at York's Micklebar Gate! :-O
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    Ha ha or burried under the shambles like some of the tratiors
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    Lovely Gary :) Does it have the rose window?
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,556
    Without the Heart of Yorkshire, it is not York Minster. We need detail!

    There have been some great illuminations over the last few years, to really make the Minster exterior come alive. This was one of the better ones on the west side (although terrible video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPX5KD3cjLE&feature=related

    Nobody in York forgets about Constantine, after all, he sits next to the Minster all day, every day. We also had a festival / museum exhibition for him about 5 years ago.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    @Savage_steel, apparently no rose window in the LEGO model. That model is owned by Yorkshireman Phil Traviss, a great contributor to the LEGO CD.

    CCC, glad that York hasn't forgotten its' history during the "Imperator Romanum" days... I don't think that there's another midsized city in England of with so much history... although Windsor is a close runnerup... and Canterbury.... meh... they've been making such a fuss ever since that "low born priest" of an archbishop got hacked to pieces in 1170... (I'm kidding... I love Canterbury as well).

    Both the Canterbury and York Archbishops together crown the soverign at coronation.

    For me the most impressive thing about York Minster was 1) its' stained glass... reputedly half of all the medieval glass (that wasn't smashed by the iconoclasts) that survives in England... and 2) the great tower... seeing the marvel of engineering in the undercroft ... where they had to secure the foundations of the great crossing tower with enormous metal bolts (you won't find these at Builders Square) and thousands of tons of cement... to shore up the 4 great pillars that were kept in groaning agony for centuries holding up a heavy tower that had the weight of 400 locomotives... amazing! And the view inside the 2nd largest church in northern Europe (after Cologne Cathedral) from the Great West Window to the 500ft. distant even larger Great East Window.... awesome....

    Damn Yank waxing poetically about a midsize town in England... ;-)
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    careful you will end up doing a Bill Bryson :-D
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    edited March 2012
    @Redbullgivesuwind .... yes I best be careful... especially since I was born in Germany... (near Coburg) less than 1 mile from the castle where Royal Albert (Queen Victoria's husband) was born... (you can blame the Germans for the "lack of good looks" in some of the royals, but I blame the Hanoverians...) ;-)

    Talk about a Yorkist Royal threadjacking...
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    But a book by a AFOL crossed with bill bryson would be a great read!
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    ^ I'd buy it. You could do a tour round britain but then build the sites in lego. Or the history of lego would do very well from his treatment.

    @Istokg yeah we really have taken this completely off topic now. With you being born less than a mile from prince albert could you be a descendant and thus....All hail King Istokg!

    On topic greetings to @jetnotskyfire :-D
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    @Redbullgivesuwind.... funny you mentioned that because a few years ago my young nephew asked me (after reading my name in the 1986 book "World of LEGO Toys")... if I was the King of LEGO... I told him "no Kyle, I'm not". He looked at me puzzled and asked "what am I to LEGO?" I thought for a moment and said... "Kyle, I guess I'm just a LEGO Sherlock Holmes... give me just a few little pieces of LEGO information, and I can put together the bigger mystery".... :-)

    As for the Coburg connection, the big castle near my birthplace outside of Coburg, one of Germany's largest is slightly larger that Warwick Castle (no slouch in the size department)... but the if you click on this image, and close the large castle image, you'll see at the bottom of the page small Rosenau Castle (where Albert was born)... and about 20 years ago my cousin was married in the banqueting hall there...
    http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&safe=off&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=655&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=K9Xlz3ehd-HPWM:&imgrefurl=http://www.burgenstrasse.de/showpage.php?SiteID=20&lang=2&sel=u&sid=26&docid=RjExvh-rjOLlxM&imgurl=http://www.burgenstrasse.de/upmedia/Coburg_Veste_von_Suedwest_klein.jpg&w=800&h=549&ei=zAZxT8i3EpOCtged8KDvDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=775&sig=103118825596619263719&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=218&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=119&ty=93
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    @Isokg I like that you should have it as your signature 'lego sherlock holmes'. As a historian in training i do know what you mean the chase is really good fun.

    I do love the german castles maybe cause they are so diffrent from the UK ones. I would love to get married in a castle wih a big medieval banquet. I dislike what they have done to Warwick castle but i know the size you mean.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    @Redbullgivesuwind... castles, cathedrals and palaces of Europe have an interesting history. What we see today is not what they saw hundreds of years ago. Many of these ancient structures were either "modernized" or "made to look old".

    Buckingham Palace didn't get its' massive facade until the beginning of the 20th century. WIndsor didn't get its' look of today until the middle of the 19th century. In 1824 they destroyed the ancient Norman "north tower" of Canterbury Cathedral, and rebuilt a twin just so it would match the 400 year old older south tower in the facade.

    The White Tower in the Tower of London didn't get its' windows until Sir Christopher Wren punched larger windows into the small medieval slits of windows of the medieval tower. St. Albans and Ripon Cathedrals were upgraded with new statuary and changes in the 19th century to make them appear less stark.

    And even Westminster Abbey didn't get its' towers until the 1700s, although the core of the Abbey is 500 years older. Times and tastes have changed over the course of centuries, and many a restored has gone overboard in trying to "restore" the medieval fabric of these ancient structures.

    But if ever a structure was screaming for a modern addition, it would be Ely Cathedral, whose northwestern transept collapsed in medieval times and was never replaced. Today the great facade tower and southwestern transept leave a lopsided view of a once grander building that lost part of it's facade that was sadly never replace.
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    @Isotkg The victorians were particuarly noutrious in correcting things to as they should be, in their eyes. For example the famous bust of Shakespeare was white washed removing all evidence of colour because they decided that all historical statues were white. As a historian it does sometimes make me smack my head when you discover what they have done at times. However the ironic thing is that the above example and the ones you cite are now part of history.

    Of course in the defence in the 1700's they werent concerned to much with actual historical objects so that is why you see the loss and happy demolishing of many historical buildings that we wouldn't dream of doing now.

    Although the best medieval mistake is that of Winchester Cathedral which was part built on to a marsh land which they drained knocking down the saxon cathedral next door in the process. However they did it not very well which means the crypt often floods and that the whole southside is actually slowly sinking into the ground and now has a very noticible lean.

  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    I visited Winchester once, and since it's the longest medieval Cathedral in Europe, it offers an extrordiary view of Nave and Choir with its' glorious lierne vault. I guess they can't blame the sinking on the scoundrel William II (Rufus) son of the Conqueror in 1100AD. They blamed the collapse of the old crossing tower long ago on him...
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,142
    They did indeed. But its cause he was a bad man. maybe they would have, i like to blame him as i walk past.
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