I haven’t been to the cinema in a long time, largely because I feel uncomfortable about the amount of noise I make while the film’s on. I think the last time I went was to see A Prophet and that was years ago. But I do watch a lot of films at home and I’ve written many times before about how my tics overreact during moments of even slight excitement.

Tonight I went to my first public screening in three years (Other than Leftwing Idiot’s and Nez’s film). I went with Zoë, Poppy, Leftwing Idiot and another friend, Trish. We didn’t go to an actual cinema but to a free screening of Body Double hosted by Days Are Numberes held in the backroom of a local pub. Even though I knew it would be fairly informal I was still nervous about how I’d manage and how other people would react. To make matters worse, the film being screened was a tense thriller!

It turned out to be a lovely evening, the people running the screening were welcoming and no one seemed worried by the presence of lots of biscuits and hedgehogs. Predictably though, I did overreact a bit and it was Zoë – sitting next to me – who bore the brunt of this.

Immediately after the chilling murder scene Zoë looked pretty torn up, not emotionally but physically, with her hair ruffled and her jumper askew. This was battle-damage acquired as she fought to get my flailing, excited arms back under control.