There I was, all excited. I was heading into Amsterdam to accompany my girlfriend to the University of Amsterdam library. I had been waiting all week and I had my list all ready. Can of air, tamiya buff, tamiya dark yellow, maybe a 1:72 Tiger 1 for the 24hr build and a good long scratch and sniff at the kits there. As you can imagine its the little things in life that make you happy.
After finding out the library was closed on saturday, we headed back to the toyshop which had one of the last bastillions of modelbuilding. A fortress of plastic, as it where. They had planes, trains, tanks, boats, bits, bobs 'n stuff… Stuff! They had Stuff!
I walk, neigh, stride through the doors with a spring in my step. I’m going to the model department beaming from my expression… And then I saw him. Where there once was an impressive display case full of trains, this… this Judas was placing nothing other than video games… The room spun, the walls came at me, abba was on the PA system… It was too awful for words… I made my way up the stairs, my legs feeling as if I was escaping from a mob concrete shoeing… It was a horrible sight. There was nothing. Bare floors where once herds of proud racks full of plastic roamed, bare walls where the majestic display cases once flocked. I was in agony. Even the nice old guy who used to be such an icon of modelling service today, offering a bottle of liquid cement as if it were a '68 bordeaux, had turned into the surly old geezer with a grudge against humanity itself. He curtly informed me that the remainder of the kits had been moved downstairs… into a corner… barely organized… The selection still diverse had been stripped of all dignity by being placed between the plastic peddle tractors and the DIY bead and felt kits. No more cans of air, no more paint… The humanity of it all…
Thankfully my fruilmodel Tiger tracks arrived that morning, so it wasn’t a complete disater. Except that my girlfriend found em in the post before I did…
I used to spend way too much time playing the PC, now I limit that time and build a model instead. I feel for you michael!!! I can’t imagine what it would be like if my LHS closed down…
thankfully I get all my stuff from an online site (excellent selection www.plasticmodelbouw.nl), but I miss the outing. There’s another two places left locally, one thats HORRENDOUSLY over priced and one that isn’t all that friendly. Its situated in the back of a moped shop, because the owner is a builder…
