The other night Zoë and I were hanging out together at the castle. We had a film on in the background while we worked on our computers. All of a sudden my tics intensified and I clenched my fists, flapped my arms, and squealed shrilly.

Zoë asked ‘Is the film getting tense?’ I looked at her and said ‘No, I was just thinking about Piggy.’

While Tourettes sometimes makes life tough I’m very lucky that, however hard it gets, my tics mean that unrestrained excitement about a squeaky rubber dog-toy is only a thought away.