When I was twelve I threw a basketball into my PE teacher’s face. The whole class had been told not to touch the balls, but to my horror I did just that: I picked up the ball and hurled it hard into his face.…

I mentioned the other day that I’d started my Christmas shopping online. Today a lot of the items I’d ordered began to arrive. A crucial part of my strategy to avoid telling people what I’ve got them is to decide who gets what at the last minute.…

I’ve been hanging out with Poppy today. It’s the first full day we’ve had together for a while and we’d planned to go to an exhibition. But when we woke this morning the world outside was dark, not even a crack of light making it through the blanket of swollen clouds, and with the rain drumming down we decided to stay indoors.…

This afternoon I had a ‘ticcing fit’ in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. Leftwing Idiot and Innes helped me out of the sea and onto the beach. I could feel the warmth of the sand through the towel cushioning my body, and see swathes of blue sky above.…

As I explained yesterday my body’s struggling with the change in time zone, with exhaustion, and with being somewhat run down. This means I’m having more frequent and intense ‘ticcing fits’ than usual.

I had a fit this afternoon that lasted over 40 minutes.…

For the last five years I’ve experienced sudden intensifications of my tics several times a day. These episodes, which I call ‘ticcing fits’, had been happening on and off for years, but in October 2011 something changed and they became a very regular part of my life.…

There are some tough things about having Tourettes, and for me one of them is disrupted sleep.

At 5:30 this morning I woke up having a ‘ticcing fit’. At first I wasn’t too worried about dropping off again, but it went on for a while and then, despite trying a variety of strategies, I couldn’t get back to sleep.…

A couple of days ago I wrote about how erratic pre-fit behaviour had led to me having my first ever ticcing fit in a sink.

Yesterday I proved that my ability to behave erratically isn’t limited just to ticcing fits. While I was getting ready for bed tonight, helped by Innes, I got over-excited by the sensation of my electric toothbrush.…

I’ve had ‘ticcing fits’ in many unusual places: a fire station, a tube station, on top of some hay bales.

Often, just before my tics intensify, I behave erratically – hitting something nearby or trying to stand up.

This afternoon I had a fit in the green room shortly before our show.…

We’re on tour with Backstage In Biscuit Land again. We’ve been performing in Sarajevo for the last few days and at 4:00 this morning we left for Ireland.

Sarajevo is a beautiful city, full of generous, friendly people, but it’s not accessible.…