On Sunday night Ruth and her nine-year-old nephew Adoni came to stay at the castle. I know Adoni likes making things so I asked if he’d like to have a go at putting together a model flying pig that I’d been given for my birthday. He was up for it and immediately got to work.

My arm tics make using scissors unsafe and doing delicate work is tricky too, so I was glad to have his help. He got the hang of it quickly and worked away at it.

After a little while he came to a part that needed the use of a craft knife. I’ve got one but haven’t gone near it for years because of my tics. We went and got it and then along with Ruth (who also has Tourettes) we had a discussion about which of us was safest to do the cutting.

Each of us instantly answered – ‘Adoni’, ‘Adoni’, ‘Me’.

A unanimous decision: it had to be Adoni. So, under close supervision, he set about doing the intricate knife work, and he did it brilliantly, making good progress on the pig. There’s still a lot more to do so I’ve put it aside for him to carry on with next time he comes.

What felt particularly lovely about our brief exchange about the knife was that Adoni needed no explanation as to why using one would be tricky for Ruth or for me – it was something he understood instantly.