As I look back on those days, it’s just like a dream. The only thing that bothered me was that we waited so long to make this protest and to let it be known wherever we go that all of us should be free and equal and have all opportunities that others should have.

I’d have been less precocious as a child (you grow up fast in New York). I’d have prolonged the naivety.

I wouldn’t take back the drugs, but there are a few boyfriends that I’d edit out of my life.

I would have spent every single day with my sister before she left to live in New Zealand. At my wedding, it was the first time I had seen her in two and a half years.

Frightening, exhilarating and all-consuming.

A detective, a train driver on the underground and Leyton Orient’s centre forward.

Twice I should have died in car accidents when both my cars were written off. I was completely unhurt; the cello was completely unhurt, too. A complete miracle.

I’m president of my neighbourhood association. At my first meeting there was a discussion about developments the association should oppose. I said: “Nothing could be as bad as that horrible new house next to the church.” “I designed that,” the chairman replied. I shut up.

Our beautiful cat was so ill that we were hours away from having her put down. Somehow, we’ve managed to nurse her back to full health again.

When the surgeon told me I wouldn’t be able to play the cello again, in 2013. I have a herniated disc and it’s pressing on a nerve in my neck. I announced I was stopping playing in 2014. I absolutely did not want to stop.