My support worker Will has a well-established history of playful interactions with my tics. He was with me today, and at lunchtime in a local café I noticed him playing with a pound coin. I looked away for a moment and when I looked back I saw he’d wedged the coin into his eye as if it was a monocle!

What will or won’t make me over react is a mystery, but today I learnt that pounds in eyes are bound to get me going – I squirmed about wildly on the sofa unable to look at Will’s golden eye. One thing that is predictable though, is how he’ll react to my overreaction – it’s always with gentle amusement and enjoyment! Each time I asked him if he’d taken the pound out he said he had, and each time I looked at him to check I found he hadn’t! This went on for much longer than it should’ve, but we both left the café the richer for the experience.