We missed our appointment after lingering at a fixer-upper full of possibilities, some magnificent, others terrifying. The agent made us wait outside. The old couple two doors down told us that he’d lived in the house since the 1940s. We didn’t know at the time that the couple would become our neighbors. The house had white walls and grey carpets (freshly steamed), skylight, chrome cooker, and views of the hills from the garden.