On a Larks and Ravens trip in January, we were approached in Manchester Piccadilly station by a homeless young man who had written some poems and wanted to know if he could read one to us in return for some money. He did so. When we asked how much he charged for the reading, he didn’t know but commented that a night in the nearby shelter cost £18.

I’ve been puzzling ever since about what that poem was worth – to him? to us as travellers that day?How do you weigh up the need for a bed and food with the worth of hearing a poem? Can you?