Until last night I’d never been frightened of aubergines. Now though, just hearing the word sends a shiver down my spine. So what’s changed?

Last night Poppy and I went out for dinner and on the way home I started having a ‘ticcing fit’. And although I’d lost my speech (as usually happens during a fit), I found myself shouting ‘aubergine’ over and over again, turning the word into a strange, repetitive song. This was so unusual Poppy hadn’t realised it was a fit at first – she thought it was just another new ticced song, like the one about a cardboard envelope from the other day.

We sped back to the castle through quiet streets with me belting out ‘Oh, oh, oh, aubergine!’ at top volume. As we rushed on I thought about how terrible it would be if aubergine became the only word I could say. I tried to imagine how I’d express complex emotions or ideas using just that word.

Thankfully, after ten minutes or so the more usual ‘howwing’ noise I make when I’m having a fit returned, and shortly after that I regained the rest of my vocabulary.

For the remainder of the evening, long after the fit had finished, I ticced ‘Oh, aubergine’ from time to time. Worried it might be about to start again, my instinctive reaction was to say ‘No!’ in response.

By the end of the night the words fused together and the tic morphed into ‘No-bergine.’ I’m hoping it’ll stay this way.