Alan is the inspiration for this site. I met him busking in my hometown and got chatting. He told me he hadn't eaten for two days because a policeman told him he couldn't busk and he was down to his last 4 pence. By the time the council offices opened, and he found out he could busk, he had gone hungry for two days. I immediatley offered to buy him a sandwich, but it turned out he really needed a drink , preferably Tennants Super Strong. Against my better judgement I bought him a can, for which he was really grateful, and slipped it to him discretely in a carrier bag. Returning 5 minutes later he had already got most of it inside him, through a hole in the carrier bag to avoid the drinking in public ban, at which point he informed me that it "takes 17 minutes to take effect".

I found out he was originally from Tyneside and had been travelling for years, sometimes as far afield as Dublin. He'd tried several times to take root in a place and get a flat but it had never worked out, I suspect because of his alcoholism, and perhaps because he has a wanderlust. On the day we met he was nursing broken ribs from a beating and a chest infection. He was pleased because he had found somewhere near the town centre to get out of the open, but said he had spent days in his sleeping bag in a shop doorway before, racked with fever and unable to move.

I asked if he had tried the local homeless drop-in. It turns out he had but left because they could only offer him food and drink, not the alcohol he really needed. He told me that the focus of resources in many shelters now was towards the younger end of homeless people, and that his age group were often turned away with the words "you can look after yourselves".

The tragedy is that Alan realises his plight, but seems unable or unwilling to do anything about it. He expressed hope that he would be off the streets before the next winter, but instead of heading back to a town 15 miles away where he had shelter, food and the chance to claim sickness benefits he was continuing his journey southwards with his travelling companion.