The Paralympics in Brazil start next week. Yesterday afternoon though, my body seemed to be embracing the sporting spirit a bit early, and in its own ridiculous way.

I was working away on the sofa when I started having a ‘ticcing fit’.…

For a few minutes I lay on my back, studying a small corner of sky that the van’s floppy thermal blind had revealed. It wasn’t giving much away, just a steady non-committal grey.

The noises outside were more revealing: no patter of rain on the roof, only the comforting racket of Fat Sister making tea outside.…

By 9:00am everyone was up, lounging on the picnic blanket spread between our tents, trying to avoid bare skin coming into contact with the dewy grass. It didn’t stay damp for long though because the sun was already warm. It’s our first morning at Shambala and the site looks wonderful.…

It’s that magical time of year when several fields near Market Harborough become awash with colour, creativity, music, laughter and friendship. And I’ve got my fingers crossed that they won’t be awash with rain.

It’s Shambala Festival, one of my favourite events of the summer.…

I agreed to do this gig in a moment of questionable judgement. But after having a difficult time at a Comedy Festival in Wales I decided to take the plunge. This is very much work in progress and I hear there’s going to be a geranium in the audience so who knows what will happen?…

Out of the blue yesterday my tics let fly with a load of unlikely gossip about daytime TV regular Lorraine Kelly.

Before I tell you any more, here’s the legal disclaimer:

‘The events described in these tics are fictitious. Any similarity to any person (or tortoise) living or dead is merely coincidental.’…

It’s a blisteringly hot day in London, with highs of 29C. At lunchtime Leftwing Idiot, Innes and I went to get some food from a nearby café. We sat outside and soaked up the sunshine.

But that’s not the only thing I soaked up.…

I mentioned last month that we’d been at Battersea Arts Centre for a week working on the very early stages of a new project. During our time there I spent a couple of days working with a voice coach. He gave me a load of exercises that I’ve incorporated into my nightly routine, just after brushing my teeth but before shouting at the lamp-post.…

As a child my Gran taught me a number of prayers. I became obsessed with them and had to repeat them all perfectly every night in order to feel safe.

As I hit my teens I was able to reason myself out of this, but the prayers are clearly still entrenched in my memory because today, totally out of the blue, I recited the Lord’s Prayer.…

One of the hazards of involuntary movements is getting your hands covered in ink. I was using a marker pen yesterday, and ended up with a big, bright, slash of pink across my arm.

I thought nothing of it – this is a regular occurrence for me.…