I had a job interview yesterday, my fourth since my job search started in earnest sixteen months ago in the wake of Diamond filing for bankruptcy.
I was asked why I wanted the job. I wish I had said, “Because I would like to buy a LEGO St. Paul’s Cathedral.”
St. Paul’s Cathedral! Designed by Sir Christopher Wren! Survived the Blitz! Attacked by the Cybermen! Site of an exquisite live performance by Elbow!
About that, survivng the Blitz…
When I was about nine my parents bought a World Book Encyclopedia, and I would spend hours pouring over random articles in random volumes. There were some articles that I liked more than others — the Space Exploration article saw heavy reading, as did the Westward Movement article — and there was a picture in the article on World War II that confused me a bit.
It appeared to show the United States Capitol under attack in World War II.
What I did not know then but would learn decades later was this–when the current Capitol dome was built in the 1860s, it was designed in imitation of the dome of St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s would be an site in two different Doctor Who stories — 1968’s “The Invasion” and 2014’s “Dark Water,” both involving the Cybermen.
In 2011, after the release of their fifth album, Build a Rocket Boys!, Elbow played a gig in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a lovely set, I’m listening to it as I write this.
When Facebook shoved an ad for a LEGO-like set of St. Paul’s Cathedral my way a few weeks ago, it caught my attention right away.
I don’t know that I will buy it when (or if) I find a new job. I added bricks to the LEGO National Cathedral. Why shouldn’t I have a LEGO-ish cathedral of my own?
Truth is, I don’t really have any place for it. But it certainly looks lovely. I’d enjoy building it.
It could use a dozen or so Cybermen minifigs, though. In which case we’d have to call upon the Brigadier and UNIT to stop them. 🙂