I popped into the little Sainsbury’s at Vauxhall station on the way back from work to buy a tin of sardines and as I was leaving a man by the door said are you a cat man or a dog man? Instinctively I answered cat man. It was a man from the Battersea Home for dogs and cats looking for a funding pledge. He told me about a kind of lodging place where a cat might be housed in the home and I could fund it with £10, £12 or £30. I would be informed of the name of the cat living in the lodge and get updates on his life. To be honest, I was mostly thinking about my tin of sardines. I was going to eat it with some sweet potato. My own recipe, I said what I usually say at this juncture. I’d have to talk about this with my partner. I even said this before I had a partner. He said he’d be in the Sainsbury’s every day that week. I said fine, I pop in here every day on my way home from work. I actually pop in there about once a month and certainly wouldn’t be in there again this week with him at the door. We parted great friends. At the traffic lights crossing to go down Harleyford Road towards Kennington I mildly scolded myself for my dishonesty. But then I thought, well if I want to give more money to charity it would be to the homeless – I had had three heartbreaking encounters with rough sleepers this week – and I resolved to do that. £5 a month. Haven’t done it yet. Might do it in a minute.

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