David Attenborough comes to the rescue.

So, I was still stuck on the ‘how to set the Atlantic crossing’ section of the opera. It had to be both humorous, often even slightly clown-like (Amy and Jim bump into each other as they repeatedly swop seats) but also not belittling of their huge achievement (even though they did crash land). There was also the romance of the dual crossing to suggest, or at any rate, the working togetherness of the trip.

So in the typical ‘yes-I-meant-to-start-at-9am-on-the-dot-but-this-radio-programme-sounds-awfully-interesting-so-maybe-I’ll-just-listen-to-this-first’ style, I found myself listening to David Attenborough on Desert Island Discs.

And then he chose a waltz for disc number three, and my problems were solved.