I was walking up a flight of the stairs in a block of apartments one sunny day when I came across a Malaysian student on the landing just above me trying to get into his flat. He was trying to push the door in while someone on the other side was pushing out. I remember the student saying, "Come on, stop fooling around and let me in!" Suddenly the door sprang open and a burglar dashed out of the flat and down the stairs. He banged into my shoulder and quickly disappeared! Small guy - must have been a Lebanese.
That was my unique close encounter - of the third kind? - with a living breathing burglar!
