THE PUZZLING EXHIBITS IN THE MUSEUM OF GEOMETRY

Someone gave me a late birthday present today. It was a puzzle; not a jigsaw puzzle and not a differential equation, but somewhere in the enormous mathematical gap between the two. It's one of those wooden block puzzles, the type you have to dismantle and put back together.

I've got loads of these - all given to me; all presents; all gathering dust on a shelf like objets d'art in a Geometry Museum.

I held the newest one aloft in its plastic box. It's like a Mayan Pyramid. I'm not ungrateful, just curious. In fact I'm really curious...

I have never told anyone that I like these polygonal puzzlers, not once in my life. Somehow though, something about me makes it evident to people around me, that I enjoy an evening fiddling with brain-twisting wooden blocks or inseparable aluminium rings. Oh for such a vacuous evening!

Here's my thought: dinner parties. Perfect, right? Instead of looking round blankly, hoping your guests (or better still, you) have a bolt of inspiration for a conversation starter, simply place puzzles in centre of table. Before long, friends will be fiddling between courses, whiling away the social awkwardness with every click and turn of these elegant gimcracks.

So, I've been keeping them (rather than confounding the local charity shop) since I was about fifteen, hoping that one day I'll have my own house and my own dining room table... oh and friends who want to hang out with a nerd who brings his toys to a grown-up dinner party. I'll admit, all of that's taken longer than I expected.

I should reiterate - I'm really not ungrateful. I love a puzzle and I adore anything that gets people thinking. I believe in thinking - one of the most powerful things you can do, and some people don't do enough of it. I just think maybe I've got enough of these things now.

Incidentally, my favourite piece in the 'museum' is my favourite because of who gave it to me, rather than anything to do with its complexity or my ability to solve it. Love wins, you see.

That's not a tricky puzzle to work out.