Mrs Hermensky

Mrs Hermensky lived in the ground-floor flat and she knew everything that went on in the building. Her door was never shut and she always happened to be "just popping out" whenever anyone was coming in or out. The tenants were, for the most part, students and nurses and Mrs Hermensky was in tune with the academic year. "You'll need to be revising for the end-year's, Mr Paul!" she would admonish me. "I'm worried about Mr Baggy's dissertation!"

Mrs Hermensky knew everyone and everything but, when Mrs Hermensky didn't appear and her door was, unbelievably, shut, we realised that no-one knew anything about Mrs Hermensky. We didn't know where she might be or who to ask about her. Or her first name.