Simple, nice and cozy. But I didn't have it.

This fruit tree was only available in two building sets and a bunch of service paks. That would explain why I’d not seen one before! More common were evergreen (triangles) which I do have. I suspect in comparison the rounded shape was more difficult to get. And there were bushes too which are even more rare.

But for this set you also have fences, HO scale, a rounded baseplate and — are those basement windows? The only thing I don’t like about it is the flat roof even if it does suggest a hastily-built postwar house in context (which may explain the missing second driveway in oversight). At least they each get their own antenna.

@MCLegoboy said:
"So if the neighbor also has a car, what happens? Do they have to park out in the open? Do they double park? Do the neighbors share each other's cars to avoid hassle, or do they only have the one, and they carpool?"

Why do they have gates leading to their neighbour but no gate on their own path? The mystery deepens...

Terraced bungalows screams “retirement community” to me

TV-antenna armybuilder!

A wonderful semi-detached suburban Mr. James!

Got a supposedly complete one from eBay, but then had to track down all the non correct pieces...
Baseplate - no dots and butchered round corners.
Basement Windows - earlier 'child unfriendly' sharp sills (which don't but up to tiles correctly)
Numbers - wrong font.

But at least it had perfect TV Aerials and Granular Tree!

'The local rock group down the street
Is trying hard to learn their song
They serenade the weekend squire
Who just came out to mow his lawn
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Rows of houses that are all the same
And no one seems to care...'

- The Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday (This part of he song seemed like a good fit for this scene)

@cluening said:
"That tree is amazing. It looks like it had a very complex mold.

Edit: after finding better pictures of it, it looks like is just partly melted plastic granules all mashed together!"

That's pretty much exactly right!

@PurpleDave said:
" @cluening said:
"That tree is amazing. It looks like it had a very complex mold.

Edit: after finding better pictures of it, it looks like is just partly melted plastic granules all mashed together!"

One of the nicknames for that is a "crumble tree". The trunk is molded in brown, then dipped in solvent of some sort, and then dipped in green ABS pellets of the style that would be run through an injection molding machine. Every tree is 100% unique, and the weak bond the pellets have with the trunk means they tend to shed, or crumble, over time when handled. I don't know if it's just the weakest bonds that break, or if eventually these can be expected to end up completely bare of foliage."

So just like real life... except it doesn't grow back.

OOOOHHH I GOT THAT ONE THIS YEAR!!!

Complete, with instructions and original box. It is crazy to think I own a set 24 years older than me but I really like that little thing.

And, in the kitchen stands Indiana Jones; staring at the fridge, thinking: 'I better not open it...I just might be in there...':D

Now I really know I'm old! This reminds me of what my friends and I used our legos for--making buildings for our Matchbox cars and Lionel railway sets, or, in one especially well-endowed friend's case, a real HO scale train. In fact, this set (which I never saw in person) came out as I was going into my first Dark Age (or really my Dark Disturbed Hibernation, as I did keep a watchful eye on how Lego developed as I grew up, until I metamorphized into a full-fledged AFOL at the third revival of the HP theme).

The funny thing about Lego is that it makes my childhood seem simultaneously only yesterday and a very long time ago.

@sklamb:
Since Lionel is O-scale, and HO-scale stands for “half O-scale”, wouldn’t HO be cheaper than O? Or is it the fact that, being cheaper on the front end, you’re more likely to build up a highly intricate layout vs just setting up loose track on the floor?

@TheOtherMike said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi @NotProfessorWhymzi: Never apologize for Weird Al."
Your prose is dopey
Think you should only
Write in emoji

@sklamb: Considering that some early Lego sets were garages for (what I assume were) Matchbox-size cars, you were just carrying on a tradition.

@AustinPowers: You're a lost cause.

@PurpleDave: Ok...I know 'G'-gauge stands for either giant or garden (the latter being where the these trains are likely to be operated/displayed) does 'S' stand for standard? And how about 'N'? I've also heard of an 'L'-gauge, but have nooooo idea what that pertains to...:D

Also, as having seen the man himself in live concert three times (and also appropriate):
They see me mowin',
My front lawn;
I know their all thinkin',
I'm so white n' nerdy

@brick_r : as for gauges, here in Germany the following are or used to be the most common (ranked from smallest to largest):

Z (1 in 220)
N (1 in 160)
TT (1 in 120)
H0 (1 in 87, the UK equivalent being 00 as in 1 in 76)
0 (1 in 48, 45 or 43.5)
I (1 in 32)
II (1 in 22.5)
The latter has also been called G by the manufacturer LGB (Lehmann-Groß-Bahn, aka Lehmann-Garten-Bahn).

The most popular gauges by far here are H0 and N, with TT and G as runners up. 0 used to be the most popular gauge in the 1920s to 1940s, and has seen a revival in recent years mainly among high end collectors. Similarly with I.

There's also S (1 in 64, which has also been called H1, as in "half I"), but from my recollection that was/is mainly popular in the US.

@brick_r:
I know what HO stands for, and what HO and O look like because I asked someone in my LUG (we do a lot of hobby train shows). I know I’ve seen N or Z, possibly both. I remember the reaction when a single ad was run in a hobby train magazine promoting L-gauge (which is probably the only time that has ever happened).I don’t know what anything besides HO and L actually stand for.

@AustinPowers:
In my personal experience, it goes L, HO, O, and then I think N and Z, and I’ve never even heard of any of those others. But then again, most of the shows I do, my LUG is the only group running trains of any sort, so that may skew my observations.

@brick_r: And at the other end of the "comfortable with high technology" spectrum:
As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain
I take a look at my wife and realize she's very plain
But that's just perfect for an Amish like me
You know I shun fancy things like electricity

@TheOtherMike:
I read that, along with a few prisoners who hadn’t been warned in time, a few Amish got caught red-handed a while back when POTUS sent out that first-ever-in-the-US nationwide phone alert.