I let my friend reactivate my Tinder account, unsure of what to expect

After an aborted attempt at returning to the office, Trudy Tyler bumps into someone from Tinder IRL. By Christine Manby

(Tom Ford)

The return to the office of the staff of Bella Vista PR was short-lived. We all dragged ourselves into London for a Wednesday morning meeting – Sarah coming all the way from Edinburgh, having accidentally moved there during lockdown – only to discover that Bella, the boss, had Covid and thus would be self-isolating at home. The IRL (in real life) meeting had been diarised for 10am. Those of us who had made it in set up a Zoom call, linking up with Bella in her sick bed, to prove we were all present and correct. We were all back home again by midday. With the exception of Sarah, of course, who had a five-hour train ride ahead of her.

Bella is convinced that she caught Covid on a tube journey into Knightsbridge to see her personal shopper at Harvey Nichols. Somebody without a mask sneezed in her direction around Gloucester Road. Therefore, she was relatively understanding when George suggested, on that face-to-face meeting which ended up being conducted online, that we should continue to WFH until we see how the Covid figures unfold in the wake of the children going back to school and thousands of students heading off to university.

I helped George to convince Bella that we have suffered no loss of productivity while we’ve all been out of the office. Bella grudgingly agreed that the WFH regime could continue for at least another two weeks. Sarah cried happy tears at the thought of a two-week reprieve, during which she would either pluck up the courage to tell Bella she’d moved to Scotland or find herself another job.