Richard Curtis couldn’t have written it any better. Newly single architect Jenny Fleming moved into Kevin Palmer’s street just before the first lockdown hit in March 2020, unaware of what life-changing events were in store for her. Spotting Kevin’s curtains had been closed for several days, and worried he had been struck down by the virus, Jenny stuck a note through his door to check he was OK. “Kevin replied to say that he had Covid but he was all right – and we began messaging from there,” says Jenny.
Post-pandemic, their relationship blossomed, but the couple felt it was too soon to start living together. However, Jenny did ask Kevin for a second opinion on a flat she had spotted for sale. It was a rare find: a one-bedroom flat on the fifth floor of Keeling House, a 1950s Grade II*-listed modernist building in Bethnal Green, east London, designed by Denys Lasdun, creator of the National Theatre building.
