fromEnglish Grammar Today
When we talk about the past, we sometimes want to refer to something which was in the future at the time we were speaking. We use past verb forms to do this:
The last time I met her, shewas leavingfor a new job in Italy the following day.(past form ofShe is leaving)
They rang to say theywould bewith us by ten o’clock but then their flight was cancelled.(past form ofThey will be with us)
[a novelist writes about a house where he wrote his novel]
I saw the house that Iwas tolive in for the next six months.(past form ofI am to live in this house)
He said hewas going tosee the match but it was cancelled.(past form ofHe is going to see the match)