Whilst it is the norm to not even open presents until Christmas Day, nothing about me is normal. That would explain why I bought the present for myself, wrapped it, gave it to myself during a live stream of a party, and have now finished up with the present already. You know how it is.

The gift I bought myself was the Mega Bloks Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Pit Stop - a lego alternative that comes complete with pit wall, F1 car and driver.

I spent maybe an hour on the thing altogether, although it was split up over the course of three days.

Here are five reasons why I loved building it.

1. Every piece is in the box. Having experienced the frustration of getting to the end of a charity shop bought jigsaw and finding one piece missing, it was brilliant to know for sure that all was in the brand new box. Also, I had no bits left over at the end which is also encouraging.
2. The instructions. I think I am the only person in the world who likes the playing rather than the working out how to play. When I was younger, a friend and I borrowed her sister’s laptop to play on Tomb Raider 2. We messed around for a bit and got stuck. Then we uncovered the Strategy Guide her sister also had, and after that, things were much more fun.
3. It looks like it does on the tin. Most things you buy don’t resemble anything like the marketing photography. Especially toys. Have you ever been able to get a Barbie or an Action Man to do the things they do on the TV? Me neither. This is just bricks, they can’t really build that up too much. My finished product - the picture above - looks just like the tin. Except some of the stickers are a bit wonky. And I can’t get the man to stand up.
4. The bits that aren’t bricklike. Especially with a Formula 1 car shape, it would be almost impossible to build some of the bits needed. I don’t know of any lego bricks that dip down at the front as the nose does on an F1 car. Thus it was quite amusing to dig out the rear wing, the steering wheel, and the wing mirrors, and go: “I know what this bit is!”
5. The stickers. The next progression from building lego models is those Airfix kits. No thanks. I much prefer fiddling with these stickers than having to get all down and dirty with a paint brush. So what if these Mega Bloks are aimed at 8 year olds?