There was no delay in getting started on day two of Idea Amplifier – everyone arrived early (despite the clocks changing), eager to start.

We’d all been reflecting on four questions overnight, so our first job this morning was to share our thoughts about each of them.…

I was awake early this morning, feeling excited but also a bit nervous. I quickly got myself ready and then along with Leftwing Idiot and my support worker Lottie, jumped into a cab and headed for the Roundhouse in Camden, where our two-day collaboration with young people with Tourettes – Idea Amplifier  – was about to start.…

My tics and I are both big fans of unpredictable outcomes. I like them because I enjoy doing creative activities where anything can happen, and my tics like them because unpredictable is what they do best.

We’re about to put this to the test very soon because tomorrow we’ll be switching on our Idea Amplifier for the first time.…

I often talk about how much laughter my tics generate. But today was exceptional and saw Leftwing Idiot, Will, and me bent over in agony from too much cracking up.

We were on our way to lunch and Leftwing Idiot was singing a song he’d learnt from one of the children at work.…

I’ve written before about the importance of language in relation to disability, particularly about out-dated words that still sometimes crop up – words like ‘handicapped.’

But today my tics put a new spin on this unpleasant term:

“Handy-Cats”
“Am I handy-cats?”…

Carbon fibre may be five times stronger than steel, but it’s no match for tics!

Last night my much-loved wheelchair suffered a shocking break. I was out at a pub for my friend Lottie’s birthday and chatting to some friends. My leg tics pushed against the footplate, as they do hundreds of times a day, lifting my body slightly out of the seat.…

The other night as I got ready for bed my vocal tics were distracted from their usual focus. The lamp-post I normally chat to as part of my bedtime routine was let off the hook for a change, to be replaced by a bold new subject – Will’s testicles.…

I woke up this morning happy, relaxed, and quite tired. I’d got back to the castle very late last night having spent the evening in Cambridge. I was there because I’d been invited to give the 12th Annual Disability Lecture at St John’s College.…

Fifty-eight years ago Jack Kerouac wrote On The Road on a single roll of paper and it became the bible of the Beat Generation. Yesterday evening I went to the Post Office with Will and on the way composed my own great Beat poem:

I scattered the stars like hundreds and thousands,
on Forest Gump’s bum.…

Last night I stayed with Fat Sister and King Russell. While we were having breakfast this morning King Russell suggested that Fat Sister was in fact part cat. My tics happily took up the challenge of listing her other ingredients, before moving onto his.…