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 I was worried about Debbie but relieved that she'd agreed to take some time
out.  I'd talked to a friend of hers from PCW at the CareSpan party and
knew that Phil was in an even worse way than he looked ...  that actually
he probably wouldn't live for more than a year ...  and maybe only months.
I wished Debbie would actually talk to me about the situation - I was
supposed to be her friend, by now, I thought - but I respected her right to
do things her own way, and in a way understood her need to deal with it all
by herself.  Nonetheless, it wasn't easy seeing someone who I cared for
going through shit without any immediate prospect of helping ...  and now I
felt guilty about knowing things about her life that she hadn't chosen to
tell me herself.  It was a difficult situation, I felt ...  and I wasn't
even the one watching my partner slowly die ...

   Which sombre thoughts preoccupied me as I finally made my way over to
the City to meet Carla for lunch - I found the restaurant easily enough but
can't remember anything about it.  Flash, undoubtedly, equally undoubtedly
ludicrously expensive, but completely unmemorable.  Even the conversation
was subdued ...  I just wasn't really in the mood, while Carla clearly was
already half way back to California, at least in her mind.  Clearly this
Hal bloke must be quite something to distract her from business, I thought
...  or maybe we were just belatedly coming to terms with having been
briefly extremely intimate and now having to forge a new relationship
pretty much from scratch.

   In any case, I've had better afternoons and wasn't at all displeased
when Carla cut the whole thing short, agreeing a time to meet on Monday and
then disappearing with a perfunctory peck on the cheek.  I went back to the
office, for a while, didn't achieve anything much and finally went home. 
Sunday wasn't much cop, either.

   * ** *** **** ***** **** *** ** *

   Come Monday, I was still feeling pretty low but at least I had a reason
to drag myself out of bed.  Seff was already there when I got to the
office, so I briefly explained that Debbie wouldn't be around for a while
and that she might have to cover for some things - not a problem, I knew -
then when Naz staggered in I got him to disable Debbie's VPN log in and
remove her from the e-mail circulation lists for the duration.  I had tried
to get her Blackberry back from her - and failed, as she seemed to be
surgically attached to the thing - but at the least I was going to try to
and minimise the possibility of her being bothered by work while she was
away.  I thought she had much better things to do with her time, frankly,
and if that was patronising of me, well, it was patronising of me.  She
could sue when she got back, I thought.

   Carla, of course, turned up exactly on time and we had a very brisk and
efficient meeting ...  Naz went through the code situation, which was
basically that the conversion was pretty much complete but couldn't yet be
rolled out as considerable improvements were under way (which, as Carla
pointed out, was pretty much what IT people always say) and then we were
graced by a visit from one Alison White, who Debbie had been working with
regarding our putative relocation.  Luckily both Seff and I had taken an
interest in this line of work - it did impact quite a lot on our future
lives, for one thing - but neither of us had actually been involved in face
to face discussions.

   Ms White, then ...  woman in her forties, I guessed, dressed in the
corporate uniform of dark blue skirt and jacket, white blouse and ...  yes
...  actual pearls in a string round her neck.  Came in carrying a huge
bundle of manilla folders, tied with ribbon in a way that I'd only ever
seen in court before, plonked them down in a very business like fashion and
proceeded to go through developments in a ...  very business like fashion.
Actually, she told us what we needed to know with the minimum of fuss and
absolutely no extraneous content ...  or attempts at human contact.  OK, I
thought, this was business, so ...

   The news, however, was good.  I knew that Ms White's Enterprise
Relocation people - and Debbie - had been extremely busy following up a
variety of leads but this was the first time I'd had all the detail.  To
cut a long story short, there were a number of options, the favourite being
an old slate processing facility in the South Lakes which had been part
converted into holiday flats at some point but still retained commercial
planning permission.  More to the point, it was in a valley that was about
to have a fibre optic cable laid up it - some rural broadband initiative -
and we could upgrade this for our purposes at (relatively) minimal cost. 
Also the building was big enough to provide residential as well as office
accommodation, and we might even qualify for grants to do the conversion
work - the council and National Park were keen to attract permanent
residents and employment to balance out the Tourists.  Transport
infrastructure wasn't brilliant but it was within 15km of a railway station
and said station had direct trains to Manchester Airport, at least, so it
was manageable.  The big problem was that it would need quite a lot of work
done to bring it up to standard, which would take time.  So EntRel had come
up with a variety of alternatives, all of which also had disadvantages and
none of which, as Naz so eloquently put it, "were half as cool".  So we
agreed that I would go up to Cumbria to have a look, meet the various
agencies involved and - maybe - sign the relevant papers.  Which sounded
good to me, even if I would have preferred Debbie to be involved in the
final decision ....  or to do the actual visit, once I'd realised that the
oh, so business like Ms White would be coming with me.  Somehow a few hours
in trains and a few days of site visits and meetings became less attractive
when I thought of doing the whole thing in the company of a woman who
appeared to have had her sense of humour removed at birth.  But, hey, these
things are sent to try us ....  and this was, after all, work.

   * ** *** **** ***** **** *** ** *

   We agreed to get the trip done as soon as possible - given that other
people would be interested in the same properties - but appointments had to
be made with relevant individuals, so we settled on next Monday - or a week
tomorrow.  Once that was done, the meeting kind of ground to a halt.  Ms
White left the office as she came in - sorry, but you could only describe
her departure as business like - and Carla, to my slight surprise,
immediately suggested that we all to decamp to Romano's for a coffee and to
continue the conversation in a more comfortable setting.

   And so that's what we did.  Walking to the cafe, I took the opportunity
to check out with Seff how she felt about left pretty much in charge of the
company if I went away while Debbie was off - she was more concerned about
being in charge of Naz, which I could empathise with, and anyway pointed
out that I was hardly going to be uncontactable.  Carla, meanwhile was
chatting to Naz about something or the other ...  and seemed to be getting
more than the normal monosyllabic responses from him.  I was impressed.

   Once we'd got the drinks in, and were sat under the awning, watching the
drizzle and the scurrying pedestrians, Carla lightened up considerably and
soon had us all laughing, joking and sharing fantasies about the future. 
Seff and Naz concentrated on trying to imagine who would come to fill our
corporate legal bod's post - we'd advertised it that week - and what sort
of structures we would find ourselves working to when we got a Human
Resources person on board.  I tried to explain that both posts were meant
to be externally focused - the former to deal with contracts with clients,
the latter to manage relationships with the freelance consultants we would
eventually employ, but neither was listening.  Ah, well, I thought, they
did have experience of working directly for PCW ...  and a whole mass of
horror stories to share as a result.  Carla was fascinated - whatever her
dealings with the organisation, she'd never seen it on that level ...  and
we got the impression that American corporate life was structured somewhat
differently.

   Eventually, however, we decided that someone really ought to be in the
office in case anything urgent came in so Seff volunteered to go back, and
Naz rather rapidly decided to go with her.  Which left me with Carla, again
...  but with both of us in a rather more relaxed frame of mind.

   "They still seem to be getting on well ...", she observed, with a grin,
and I nodded.  "Yep ...  amazing how much more work Naz gets done now that
he's not constantly stoned ...  also how good Seff is at all the bullshit
involved in dealing with clients when you just let her get on with it. 
Good people to work with, really - we were lucky to get them." She looked
thoughtful.  "And Debbie?  How's that going?  I know she's taken some time
off - and, sorry, but she looked terrible on Saturday morning, so probably
just as well - but how is she working out?"

   I'd forgotten that Carla had only met Debbie twice and actually knew
almost nothing about her, so I explained that she was, basically,
brilliant, had made a huge impact on our development and was - and would
continue to be - a major asset ...  but that she had some personal stuff to
sort out.  Which was OK, it seemed to me.

   "Actually, I knew all that ...  I mean, I've seen the stuff she's
produced for you and ...  I've met her partner, so ...  What I meant was
... how about you ...  and her?  I mean, I know you're doing what you can
to support her at the moment, but where does that leave you?  I know you
think of her as rather more than just a colleague ...  or a friend, indeed
..."

   I shrugged: It was true but not particularly relevant just at this
particular moment, I felt.  "She's away, doing what she needs to do but she
did send me a text this morning - they've gone to Rye, apparently - its a
seaside town in Sussex, very quaint, you'd like it.  Which said, I'm hoping
not to hear from her for a while.  God knows I'd like her to be involved in
the Cumbria stuff but she really does need space ...  and spend some time
with Phil ...  Anyway, its important that she comes back, but more
important that she's OK ...  in herself, I mean." Even I realised that this
sounded complete bollocks and stopped, then apologised.

   Carla gripped my shoulder and half laughed, "I told you you weren't
standard corporate material: That's a loser's way of dealing with your star
employee." She paused.  "And I think Debbie's a really lucky woman to have
you thinking about her that way.  But are you going to call her, see how
she's doing?"

   "I don't think so - I couldn't really not discuss the relocation and I
think it kind of defeats the object if I phone her and immediately launch
into work.  I'm seeing May - CareSpan's Chief Exec, you remember, from the
party?  - later on, though - I want her to sit in on the interviews for the
legal post - and I might suggest that she keeps in contact.  May's the sort
of person that you'd want on your side in a crisis and I know Debbie really
likes her."

   Carla just nodded at this, muttered something about Ms Zhu certainly
being quite impressed with May, too, and the conversation moved on.  Its
amazing how interested pregnant women are in babies.

   * ** *** **** ***** **** *** ** *

   Later on, I went over to CareSpan to talk to May and found her even more
buried in paperwork - almost literally - than usual.  Nonetheless, she
seemed to be happy to spend an hour or so being distracted, which I felt
was a good thing ...  as I needed distracting, too ...

   Basically, we talked through HR stuff, and the difficulties we - OK, I -
was having working through PCW's recruitment team when we were trying to
recruit our sort of people.  She smirked a bit when I described the
arguments we'd had in trying to insert a reference to a sense of humour
being required in an advert for a qualified solicitor - apparently such
things were only appropriate for "personal ads of the tackier kind" - and
positively guffawed when I explained the further difficulty of dealing with
a group of people all of whom professionally disapproved of our entire
approach but who were simultaneously angling for jobs for themselves - that
famous flat pay structure coming back to haunt me yet again.  Nonetheless,
I explained, we'd had three reasonably qualified applicants for the legal
post, which I felt was OK as we'd had to advertise without being able to
specify where exactly the post would be based and had also decided not to
include details of the salary - which I felt we could negotiate on the
basis of the successful candidate's ability to contribute to the team as a
whole.  Such as their ability to make coffee, translate Naz-speak into
English, that sort of thing.  I also explained that I wanted to interview
quickly as all of them had notice to work from their current jobs and we
needed to get them started as soon as possible.

   May looked a bit dubious at that point - she knew we hadn't actually
sorted out where we were moving to, let alone when - but apparently decided
to leave that to one side for the moment.  Instead she went all chief
exec-ish on me and very rapidly mapped out a plan - invite all the
candidates in for an informal chat with Seffi and Naz (so the former could
give them an overview of what we were doing and the latter could show them
what they'd be letting themselves in for, I thought) sometime this week, if
possible, then proceed with formal interviews as soon as I got back from
Cumbria.  I didn't have a problem with this - it was pretty much what I'd
been thinking, anyway, so I gave Seff a quick phone and asked her to
contact all three candidates and agree times for a visit, then phoned PCW
and left a message for someone from HR to give me some times to formally
interview on the Friday of next week.  Almost as an afterthought, I
remembered to ask May if she'd also be available to sit in on the
interviews but of course she's assumed that was why we were having the
conversation in the first place and agreed without a problem.

   That pretty much finished our business and I was preparing to go off and
buy Carla a (soft) drink - she was flying to Frankfurt in the morning -
when May asked me if she could ask me a personal question.  I was slightly
taken aback - she'd never been particularly reticent in that regard before
- but of course I agreed.  "Its just Debbie," she said, "I was wondering
how that was going ...  she looked really tired at the party ...  and she's
obviously got her work cut out caring for her partner - Phil, wasn't it?  -
and I think - well, I think you and she have got some things to work out,
so I was wondering how things were going.  None of my business, of course,
but I like you both a lot, and ...  well.  I'm a nosey bastard, really."

   I smiled, "No ...  I don't think its nosiness and I at least think of
you as a friend, so ...  actually I'm glad you asked." I explained the
situation with regards to Debbie and work, carefully not going into the
more personal side of things.  Which she noted and respected, replying
simply that she could understand the situation and it explained why I was
going to Cumbria and why Debbie wouldn't be in on the interviews we'd been
discussing.  She looked at me keenly, though.

   "So what else can I do to help?  Friend of you both as I am?" So I asked
if she might want to keep a line of communication open with Debbie in the
interim, let her know that we were - I was - thinking of her, that she
should feel free to contact us - or me - at any point, but that we - I -
wouldn't be hassling her in the meantime.  Which she said she'd be happy to
do and would keep me informed.

   Which left me strangely relieved ...  May was just one of those people
it was easy to trust, I guess ...

   * ** *** **** ***** **** *** ** *

   The rest of the week was a bit of a whirl.  We sorted out arrangements
for our two remaining legal candidates - the third had haughtily informed
Seff that his CV should be sufficient and that he wouldn't be coming to any
competitive interview, so fuck him.  I was deliberately out of the office
when they actually came in ...  and didn't talk to Seff or Naz about them -
we'd get their input after the formal side of things.  The rest of the week
I was mainly caught up in work around our approach to one of the big German
banks I'd been talking to earlier, as well as preparing some data that
Carla had asked for ...  and ...  sorting out final arrangements for the
trip North.  Ms White had assumed we'd be flying and I was half tempted to
let her, meeting up with her on site, but my adult side realised that we
actually had quite a lot we needed to talk.  So I finally convinced her to
take the train up with me on Sunday.  Seff booked rooms in the Albion Inn -
a local pub with gastronomic pretensions, which I thought might suit my
companion - and that seemed to be that.

   And so the week finished on quite a routine note.  I did talk to May ...
who had talked to Debbie, who, she said, seemed to be fine.  Which was
good, I thought: One less thing to worry about.

   ooo+++ooo+++ooo+++ooo

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