In which Hamleys gets the tour

Lego Queen and Lego guards

Lego Kate and William, plus a Lego telephone box. (There was also a Lego Harry and Duke of Edinburgh, but that's enough Lego royalty for me)

In front of a stuffed polar bear. Not a real-stuffed bear, one made by people who make cuddly bears. Seemed a bit of a leap in production to me. The photos have now moved to being in Harrods.

Teen fiction section in Harrods. I love their layouts. Look at the random giant chess piece!

Minifigure made from other figures. I've called her Belinda and she is awesome! Andy and I spent Saturday night making new Lego people after breaking up all the ones I own. The new ones have names and character backgrounds now.

Opening up my tax return's wealth

Wolverine thinks he is sneaking, but Magneto can already sense he is there!

The completed chopper. Took a little time that one.

On Saturday Andy and I took a trip to the toy shops. We got an unexpected little windfall in the form of tax returns for both of us which is very nice. And being mature tax-paying grown ups we took our government money and spent it all on booze Lego and Magic cards. Yup.

I was actually planning to go to Hamleys and Harrods toy shops all along in order to do a review of them for Bad Reputation. Bad Rep is an excellent online feminist magazine that I have written for once before. I wrote a piece suggesting that the Lego Friends series isn't as sexist as it may have first seemed. I am really pleased with having it out there because Friends has continued the trend I predicted of bringing out more empowering sets. Anyway, the next planned article is one looking at which of the major brands is the best at arranging their shop in a non-gendered way. I went to Toys R Us for it ages ago, so now I have lots of notes and want to form them into something interesting. I'll talk know more on that and link to the article when it is done.

As research trips go, it wasn't bad! I ended up having a great chat with the Lego rep in Hamleys who showed me pictures on his phone of all his sets and I like to think we bonded a little. I bought the Marvel set with the chopper, Deadpool, Magneto and Wolverine in Hamley's. It is honestly the most I have spent on any set in a very long time. I might buy a lot of toys, but I generally keep it to small amounts at a time. But we had free money! So what the heck eh?

I took a bajillion photos of the Lego display models (which were amazing), but with all the kids around and weird lighting, they aren't very good I'm sorry. (I'm always afraid taking photos in toy shops cause it's illegal to take photos of other people's kids and all that). There was also a Lego dragon and a Lego porter in Harrods which I haven't shown here. I always wonder whether they are imported or the staff devote whole days to the structures.

And, as for the outfit time... I really love this look, but it was a horrible day outside so didn't get many photos of it. I am wearing an asymmetrical skirt that goes 'swoooosh' behind me when I walk and makes me feel so sexy. I confess to being utterly vain when wearing this and looking in shop windows to see it floating out behind me. It's also green chiffon with an underskirt so the lightness makes the swooshing even easier. Doesn't show in still photos though unfortunately. I felt like a proper Londoner on Saturday though with my hat and fancy skirt and wearing lipstick and, of course, being inside Harrods. It's also interesting to see my style developing post-uni.

Outfit Elements: Hat: Camden market, T-shirt: Meat Loaf gig, Skirt: New Look, Waistcoat: Matalan, Key Necklace: gift

How was your weekend? 

I hope Deadpool has plastic katana and gun there.