TRUE-LIFE
My loft city will knock your blocks off!
Hayley White, 56, Leith
Wrestling with sticky tape and paper, I wrapped the last of our grandson’s presents.
It was December 2022, and Sebastian, then 6, had asked for a Lego train set for Christmas.
‘He’ll love it,’ my husband Marc, then 54, beamed.
He’d been hankering to get it out of the box ever since we’d ordered online!
I shouldn’t have been surprised – Marc, a graphic designer, had long spoken about setting up his own model railway.
On Christmas day, Sebastian grinned as he tore into the paper.
‘Can we build it now, Grandad?’ he asked, eagerly.
And Marc didn’t need asking twice.
Setting it up in our sitting room, the pair beavered away until the train was roaring around the tracks.
Every weekend, Sebastian would come over to play with his train set.
Before I knew it, there were houses popping up
Lovely, but it was getting in the way.
‘We need somewhere bigger to put it,’ said Marc.
He suggested setting it up in the loft.
Over the next few days, Marc spent every spare moment clearing it out.
When it was empty, he put up tables for the train tracks and strung fairy lights around.
‘Cosy,’ I smiled. With more space, they let their imaginations run wild. Before I knew it, there were Lego houses popping up around the tracks.
Shops, cafes, roads and bridges.
Every birthday and Christmas, each family member would buy Sebastian a new Lego set for the town.
Bringing Marc a cup of tea one Saturday afternoon, I found him and Sebastian concentrating hard.
‘We’re building a zoo,’ Sebastian, then 7, told me, excitedly.
The detail was incredible – right down to the tiny Lego animals living inside.
Even thoug
