So far, I have enjoyed a lucky, materially easy life: I have never been homeless. When I was about 18, I did follow an unsuccessful love affair in Spain by travelling with almost no money. That meant living outside, using town squares and scraps of woodland for overnight sleepingbag rests, living on tomatoes and bread discarded from bakeries. It was a brief, voluntary adventure only but gave me a tiny insight into how dirty you get very quickly; and how vulnerable genuinely homeless people must feel.