For the last few weeks I’ve been used to a new vocal tic. It’s one I say several times a day, but not all the time. Unusually for me it’s not a surreal mash-up of random ideas. Instead, it’s a line from a 1980s TV advert for a chocolate bar.

For those not old enough to remember, the advert features two cars having a race. The line I’ve been ticcing is:

“Oh no the bridge has gone, old Red can’t carry on!”

It’s not surprising that I remember the advert because it was very prominent when I was young. In fact Leftwing Idiot knows the whole thing word for word.

What I find strange though is why, out of all the adverts I’ve seen in my life, my tics have selected this line from this one for me to repeat over and over again.

But I suppose it’s not really any more peculiar than finding the word penguin hilarious, getting overexcited by the wind, or shouting at street furniture.

The world Tourettes creates, and the way it interacts with the ‘real’ world, is totally unfathomable.