Fran, Leftwing Idiot and I have just been at a training day on safeguarding disabled children. Part of it involved simulating a conversation with a child who has limited verbal communication.

The group was split into pairs, one person taking the role of the child and the other the adult.…

I’ve just got home from a birthday party. It wasn’t a party for a person – it was for an organisation, UnLtd, a much loved friend of, investor in, and advocate for, social entrepreneurs. It’s an organisation that provides practical and financial support for individuals who come up with good ideas for positive social change.…

I’ve just got back from visiting Poppy in her lovely new house. She made a delicious dinner and while it was cooking we sat and chatted with her new housemates in their cosy kitchen.

As usual my tics were mostly about hedgehogs and biscuits, but they suddenly turned their attention to the plant that was sitting on the table.…

A while ago I shared some ticced horoscopes that’d emerged while I’d been chatting about star signs with Poppy and Leftwing Idiot. Lots of people have been enjoying them, and one friend, Gemma, suggested we make them into YouTube videos.

So that’s how I found myself sitting between a gold Moon Frog and a Dream Catcher, wearing a specially made shawl in traditional Touretteshero colours, singing spontaneously about Libras as snow fluttered down outside the window.…

It’s bitterly cold again. The temperature’s really dropped and snow’s been floating down intermittently all day.

I’ve been outside all day on a trip with the children from work to visit another adventure playground. But although I’ve been exposed to the elements, I’ve not been cold.…

Poppy was back at the castle this evening for her weekly turn as my overnight support worker. Shortly before we headed to our beds I had a “ticcing fit.” As is often the case I lost my speech, but this time not completely.…

The other day I wrote about the practical challenges of going to the loo with my unpredictable mobility. There’s an additional factor I didn’t mention that makes this even harder at work: metal grab rails.

This might quite reasonably surprise you – grab rails are there to make things easier.…

Yesterday I wrote about the amazing meals my friends and support workers have been preparing for me. Tonight, hanging out with Zoë, I ticced, “Let’s cook with biscuits and sheep.” My tics then went on to describe how you’d do this.…

My arm tics make it hard for me to prepare meals safely. Before Poppy lived at the castle I used to rely on the microwave and supermarket ready meals to fill me up. While we lived together she used to make delicious dinners for us to share, so in the last couple of years I’ve got used to a much better quality of dinner.…

I’ve described many times the difficulties I have with standing up. My tics mean my knees bend uncontrollably so that I suddenly drop to the floor. This poses many challenges.

One of these (that I’m sure I haven’t written about before) is the logistical challenge of trying to pull my trousers up after having a wee.…