Me - a Historian? You must be Joking!!

At last, Dear Reader's, your old acquaintance Komata's Blog, has re-emerged from its lair, so, beware, there is no way of  knowing where it will trundle off too. .

So . .

Have you ever considered, Dear Reader, that it might be an interesting exercise to include some of your personal history on your layouts?

'Personal history!! Oh, please, spare me - I haven't GOT any personal history' - I can hear the comments now (hopefully all polite (LOL)), but, Dear Reader, you are actually quite wrong - you DO have a personal history, and that it can be incorporated within your layout.

What about, for instance, the home (or apartment) you grew up in?  The home that you and only you have very unique memories of - the tree/s you climbed, the cats (or dogs, or . . ) you had as pets, that  clothes line you swung on - need I go on?

These memories (and the house itself) can be incorporated into your layout - the tree, the back yard, and even the neighbours kids! (shock, horror).

All of this is possible, and wait, there is even more.

What about that old shop down the road that you used to go with with your mum or siblings and buy things at - the shop that was bunt/demolished/closed-down (you choose) after you moved away?  That too can be incorporated into your layout, along with a surprisingly large amount of things which are very personal and very much part of your own individual history.  It definitely can be done, and can be quite entertaining as you do so.

But, why - why even go to the trouble of incorporating such things on your layout?

There are, perhaps surprisingly, several reasons.

One is your own personal satisfaction with being able to incorporate such personal things into your layout, another is the ability to incorporate actual bits of physical history in respect of specific, now-gone buildings again from your own personal history - buildings and places that were /are very specifically special to you, but the best reason of all, is the feeling you get when other members of your family get to see your endeavours (as part of your layout of course) and suddenly realise that you have built 'their' house - the place where they too have personal memories and personal history.  tTe smiles and reminisces are priceless and are, in a way, some more of your personal history - but just a little more up to date.

Now, I do realise that this won't be an idea that all our membership will want to follow, but for those who do so , try making a list - a short or long list, the choice is yours, and on it put all the things that come to mind from your personal history, that you might just like to put into model form on your layout.  It could be short, it could be long as I said before, but I'd be very surprised if it isn't fun.

I'd be very surprised too, if the contents won't be fun to model - but don't rush to build everything at once - enjoy the experience - and the memories.

Have fun.

Komata

"TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . "