unexpected twists of fate

We've given our flat (I prefer 'flat' to 'apartment') a chance, but have decided that the negatives far outweigh the positives and so have embarked on a mission to find another place to live. It's obviously not the ideal situation to be in (especially given the large financial penalties involved) but you've got to be happy in your home, and we're not.

One of the teachers we arrived with has decided to move into the flat upstairs in his block leaving his current one free. He is quite friendly with the flat-sorter-outer at Larissa's school and so after phoning her, she alerted us to his situation. We've been to his flat before and thought what a jammy git he was to get it in the first place. For a small amount extra, we stood to get three times the space and enough natural light to make us happy.

So far, so good; fate smiling happily upon us.

We spent most of today looking around other places to confirm that we were making the right choice. Of the five we saw, only one was stood out as potential competition to the aforementioned soon-to-be-vacant flat and after much humming and hawing, we returned to it (the aforementioned one) to have another look. The second viewing helped us decide that we would definitely be able to make ourselves at home there.

It was when we were heading downstairs to introduce ourselves to the landlord that the afternoon took an unexpected twist. We were greeted at the door by the tearful fiancée of the landlord who informed us he died suddenly of a heart-attack yesterday. Whether she assumed we knew him, or was just observing Islamic custom in this situation, we were invited into the family home where we spent the next twenty or so minutes offering our condolences to strangers.

The family were in the middle of their first day of the grieving process and there we were, sitting in their front room, desperately sad for their loss, but at the same time feeling extremely awkward that we were there at all.

A stranger afternoon we've yet to experience.