Running Away

I'm running away for two weeks for what appears to be an annual globe-trotting expedition. Shanghai this time. The largest massed pipe band in China, apparently. I did Edinburgh last year for PipeFest. That was big.
Anyway, enough about me. Two weeks away means two weeks away from this office, these people. Omigod! What are they going to do without me? How will they cope? I'm not being overly egotistic, but my girls rely on me heavily on a day to day basis. I don't just direct them, but I also support their efforts, in their attempt to do what I tell them to. It's a cross between situational- and micro- management. I manage each of them as needed at the time - as long as they're following my orders. I didn't realise that Spin was already off on her holiday this week. I was wondering why she was so late, and Owl reminded me. Oops. We were going to coincide holidays, and I saw that as a relief, but then she couldn't get flights ... Owl and Booker are my three-day-a-week girls, so they don't need as much forward planning. I asked them all to send me an email and work out what they were doing and could do over the period, and so far Booker is the only respondee with "I'll run out of work before you get back". Succinct, but useless. Meanwhile, Anne, who I've been protecting from Doodles' excessive requests, will be my only girl in today. As my only full-timer, I have to worry more about her. We've got time to chat, anyway. I set up a meeting to discuss ideas tomorrow, and I've got a half-page list of stuff that could get done, but I'll guarantee I'll come back to blank faces and nothing achieved. Now I know how Polo felt when he left his people for a week or so.
The other part of the problem is finding someone to look after the girls for me. They need support. They need someone who can solve their problems, or is willing to find someone who can. I've been thinking of senior people all this time - I asked FO, and he was non-committal. I wouldn't trust Arkel, because his staff of one never knows what's going on. Gabriel is too busy. The list goes on. And then I got this brainwave - Tweet. She's an unofficial bit-time member of my team, knows her stuff, can talk anyone into anything (eventually) when she can't do it herself, and she has no delusions of grandeur. Apparently, she wants to get into project management, so this is just another step in that direction. The only other option is Red, and I don't know when he'll be in, so I can't make plans. I'd trust him, but I have no idea if he has the support skills my girls need.
I feel much happier now, having talked it through. I can relax and listen to the crowd shout unintelligibly at the band, hoping that they're saying "Brilliant! Encore!" when they're much more likely to be shouting "Shut off that damned racket!"