Q-Tics

[catherinem]

As it’s TS awareness month in the USA I thought I might share with my friends over the other side of the pond a slice of British life with TS and write a blog post everyday. Hopefully I won’t have run out of interesting stuff to write about, but as you know life with TS is always interesting so I’ll try my best.

I’d like to share with you the typically British pastime of queuing, us Brits are know for our stoic patience when it comes to queuing and Tourette’s and queues aren’t a particularly safe combination. Of all queues my least favourite ones are the ones found in Primark (a cheap high street clothes shop) always long en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav , unfortunately, I have tic where I shout “chav”. Not a good queue to be in. Also these are the sort of people who circulate those lovely vids of people pretending to have TS that seem to multiply on You tube. The other type of hateful queue are those found in banks, I found myself in such a queue this morning, this one was particularly slow. So, there I am queuing patiently, feeling just a tad hot and sticky in my motorcycle leathers wishing the queue would move a bit quicker. AS ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME KNOWS THAT QUEUEING IS A MAJOR TIC TRIGGER FOR ME, SO NATURALLY THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF TICCING GOING ON MY PART, SOME SWEARING, SOME SQUEEKING, CLAPPING, LEG THUMPING, A NOISY CORNUCOPIA OF TICS. (SORRY ABOUT THE CAPITALS, SOMETHING WEIRD HAS HAPPENED TO MY COMPUTER, YES I’VE CHECKED MY CAPS LOCK!) AS WELL AS BEING A BIT OF A PEOPLE WATCHER, I HAVE A BIT OF A CONFESSION, I ALSO LIKE TO EARWIG OTHER PEOPLE’S CONVERSATIONS, AS I’M TICCING AWAY A MAN IN THE QUEUE BEHIND ME SAYS TO HIS NEIGHBOUR “IF YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT PROBLEMS, THEY’VE GOT THAT TOURETTE’S THING.” A FEW MINUTES LATER HE ANSWERS HIS PHONE, “ I’M IN THE BANK, I’M QUEUEING, THERE’S A PERSON WITH THAT TOURETTE’S THING, I CAN’T BEAR THIS ANYMORE” I WONDER IF HE REALISES THAT AS WELL AS HAVING TOURETTE’S I’M ALSO A WOMAN, I CAN HEAR AND ALSO I HAVE FEELINGS. OH WELL, AT LEAST HE’S AWARE OF TS EVEN IF IT’S THAT TIRED OLD STEREOTYPE, BUT HE’S GOT A LONG WAY TO GO!

[twitch1]

Hmm, I must have missed being told about the part where we are completely unable to understand what people are saying....

I think supermarkets are the worst queues for me, because by that point I'm already in sensory overload from the shopping part of it, and with my low patience levels I have been known to chuck my shopping basket on the floor and storm out of the shop....

Is that sticky keys? I think that's solved just by pressing shift repeatedly. If not, hope that it's sorted soon.

And motorcycle leathers - does riding a motorbike affect your tics?

[catherinem]

Tesco's is hell for me, my partner likes to use those self service checkouts, it drives me nuts as I'm quite clumsy packing and he's quite particular. As goes tics on the bike, I think because my leather jacket is quite heavy and snug it suppresses my tics and also my helmet is very snug as it has to be , that helps supress my head jerking tics.

As you can see the capitals problem has been solved.

[taffy222]

As for the man queueing who 'Can't bear it anymore' he should try living with it then. That was downright rude to say that within earshot. I don't have that problem but I find this group of people more offensive and even then I don't comment out loud!