Laura’s one of my closest friends and we’ve known each other for over sixteen years. We lived together or near each other for many years and still speak regularly on the phone. Laura lives a bit further away now and has two children, Ruby and my godson Leo. I hadn’t seen them for a while so I was particularly looking forward to hanging out with them at the castle today.

We belatedly exchanged Christmas presents, had lunch, played swimming pools, bucket spinning, robot stacking, and tower building (destroying). Ruby, who’s three, and Leo, who’s two, carefully explored everything they could find around the castle. They were particularly interested in my pigs.

I introduced them to them all: Pink Piggy, Blue Piggy, Black Piggy, Green Piggy, White Van Pig, Mystery Pig, Dalmatian Pig, Drunk Uncle Piggy, 18th Century Piggy, Day Glow Pig, Grey Pig, Disco Pig, Diving Piggy, Bat Pig and Robin.

They admired them and picked them up, but it was a while before they worked out that if you squeeze them they squeal. They quickly realised this makes me very excited! The more Laura and my support worker Lottie encouraged them to stop, the more they squeaked the piggies and the more I squeaked too.

We had a lovely afternoon and it was great to catch up with Laura and to see how much Ruby and Leo have grown, and how chatty and curious they are. We’ve been hanging out together in this way since they were tiny and they’re very used to me making unusual noises and movements.

Laura told me later that on the way home Ruby asked, “What’s Touretteshero got?” Laura listed everything in the castle: the robots, the buckets, the beanbags, the pigs, the Weables, the sheep and the spider ball. Ruby said “No, what has she got?” and then banged her chest. Laura said “Aaah, Tourettes.” Happy with this answer they carried on home.

Then, later still, Laura asked Ruby ‘What’s Touretteshero got?” and her reply was “Pigs, all of the pigs!”

Hearing about this exchange made me very happy, I love it that she’s noticing my tics and comfortable asking questions about them. I’m even more pleased to hear she appreciates my pig-winning prowess.