Occasional Tales

Rasputin dithers. Vlad is out; Dmitry is departing for tropical climes; Rasputin is… dithering. Yes, Vlad got the boot for the very reason suspected some time ago – he irritated the locals. Dmitry will be back to being one of the rank-and-file. I wonder how he’ll cope with not being part of the inner circle, and how long it’ll be before he’s in it again. Vlad let him down in the end, and Sarasvati had to supply him with a reference. As for Rasputin, his departure has been an open secret, but the latest news is that he’s allegedly had an offer, but needs to make his mind up by Monday. Our fear is that he remains and will “Squat like a Toad, close at the eare of EVE”. Some good news; some potentially bad. 20.01.17. And the news ends up being bad, with the toad deciding to irritate everyone for another year.

The rupturing of the triumvirate. This week, Dmitry has been off having a nice holiday… sorry, enhancing his employment pro­spects. I’ve now heard from a fairly reliable source that Rasputin really is leaving, and I have first-hand evidence that far from being Vlad’s keen and eager lackey, he would appear to be somewhat contemptuous of him. I’ve also heard that Vlad is looking elsewhere, which may be partly motivated by his dislike of the place and by the departure of his two substitute sons. I imagine that he doesn’t want to find himself without that extra, contrived layer of management. So far, the only certainty is Dmitry’s departure, but officially, there has been no word about Ras­putin. Sarasvati tells me that he wants to do the introduction to the new EE to the IB1s, but I can’t think why someone who’s never been involved in the process would want to muscle in on my turf. I do, however, suspect that he’s possibly doing this so that he can claim to have been an