Clare Teal: Inside out as the big clean-up comes to nothing

Imagine our surprise when the journalist and photographer arrived to discover it wasn’t a feature about the interior of the flat but a feature about selling the flat – our flat!

They took lots of photos but it seems the one they’ll most likely use is an exterior shot (all that cleaning!).

In reality, this is actually quite exciting. As you may know, we have ambitions to build our own house, and though I’d envisioned this happening a few years from now, it seems it may well be happening a lot sooner.

The next day, we left our ridiculously tidy flat and excitedly headed for the big smoke. We have a friend who works for Radio 2 as a security guard. If you need to know anything about the comings and goings of the station, he’s your man. He’s also worked for some of the most famous rock stars on the planet and if you catch him on a good day, you hear stories that turn your eyes into saucers.

Quite a few months ago, I was presenting a live broadcast when he pulled me to one side and said: “k.d. lang’s just been booked to do a live concert for Radio 2 on April 20 – thought you might want to know.” k.d. lang is, without doubt, the voice of her generation. Her range, style and vocal ability is quite extraordinary and I never miss the opportunity to see her sing live.

Last Wednesday’s concert was incredible; she was on top form performing songs from the new record. Her new band, the Siss Boom Bang, didn’t disappoint either. We sat next to lovely Alex Lester and just along from the equally lovely Graham Norton.

Great singing continued to be the theme of the week as friends Chris and Al came to stay for Easter. Chris While has one of the most glorious voices I’ve ever heard. She’s big news on the folk scene. If you’re not a folk head but like great songs, beautifully sung, I guarantee she’ll be big news on your scene, too.

And so the perfect Bank Holiday was spent drinking wine, singing songs and eating chocolate into the early hours.