Music: Katie Melua

Kate Melua’s voice does something for me. It brings me to different places, it touches my soul. Everybody must know Nine Million Bicycles in Beijing, but when I listen to it, I am transported back to Beijing in the 1980s, cycling across Tiananmen Square, stopping off at the Forbidden City, leaning my bike against the wall. I have Katie Melua tracks playing back to back, when I am writing. Even the dog knows when Katie Melua is up loud, there isn’t a hope of a break or a walk.