Outside at the front door, a delivery man rang the bell. No reply. He tried again, but still the old man didn’t answer. The delivery man peered through the letter box, but the house seemed empty. Conscientiously writing out a postcard to say he’d try again later, he posted it; then on his handheld electronic notepad, he recorded the “failed attempt to deliver”. As he left, he saw no-one in the apartment block hallway.
Someone else would have to discover the old man.