• The Other Me

    The Other Me

    ‘Weird’ ii. I was eleven-going on-twelve – my first year in high school – when the moods developed. When they came, it was like I’d never known anything different, so perhaps they were always there, and it was only now I became conscious of them. Sometimes, I’d become hyper, bounce on my feet, fidget, and my talking would speed up. I always wanted to do something, or nagged people to do things with me. In later years, I’d learn people thought I was taking speed. Other times I was bleak. I’d look at the other kids – friends screwing around, doing the stuff teenagers do – feel detached and think,…

  • The Other Me

    The Other Me

    ‘OCD Toasties’ OCD can affect you in funny ways. One way it affected me was when I’d make ham and cheese toasties, or cheese toasties, in the sandwich maker, and the cheese would spill out all over the place. It’s not so much an issue now because sandwich makers have a teflon surface and are easy to clean. But years ago, it took a bit of work to clean cheese from the plates. And it’s not neat. And it’s disorderly. And it doesn’t have to be. So I found another way of making them which, now in retrospect, realise may have been the OCD at work … Start with whatever…