At six each morning the night desk hands over to the day, and the handover is brief: who is booked, who is free, and one line on each companion that saves the next person a question. This list holds the fourteen women aged 25 to 29, the largest band on the rota, and the lines below are taken from that note.
At this stage of life most of them know their own diary well: which nights they keep, how much notice they like, which kind of evening brings out the best in them. That makes them straightforward to plan with, and it is why the note on each is so short.
Karolina: opera needs tickets, so ask a few days ahead for the four hour booking. Patricia: a day or two to plan, then a bookshop, a drink and dinner with nobody watching the clock. Liana: a calm weeknight arranged the day before brings out her best. Samanta: everything agreed before three, and she will look after the whole table.
Milena: says yes fast, and a full night with breakfast in the room is a natural fit. Tina: evenings, often the same night for hotels off the Strand, with a drink at One Aldwych first. Michelle: most evenings open, and a same night visit in Knightsbridge is usually possible.
Cindy: afternoons and early evenings, with two hours at £500 her natural booking. Rosa: Sunday to Thursday from mid afternoon, with a market and a gallery in the plan. Thea: early evenings and easy suppers, quick to hotels in Kensington.
Vanessa: the rota's easiest airport companion, calm about delays. Laura: same day from noon, and on the Heathrow train from Paddington quickly. Nora: one day of notice, and a warm first evening after a long flight.
Danielle: late starts only, from nine, for three hours or the whole night. A restored print at BFI Southbank, the walk back over Waterloo Bridge, one quiet table in your hotel bar. Book her when the day was loud and the evening should be the opposite.
Three in Paddington: Laura, Nora and Vanessa, the natural choices for the Heathrow line. Three in South Kensington: Danielle, Milena and Thea, close to the museums. Karolina and Tina in Covent Garden, Samanta in Mayfair, Patricia in Belgravia. Cindy and Michelle live in Chelsea, Liana and Rosa in Marylebone. Home district decides how quickly she reaches you, not whether she will.
A companion who knows her own week makes the desk's job simple, and yours with it. Tell Henrietta the hotel, the hour and the kind of evening, and she can usually match one of these fourteen in a single reply. Any of them can be asked about the four hour dinner date, which costs £900; every other figure appears on the rates page.
Ten companions aged 22 to 24 appear on the early twenties list, and four aged 30 to 32 on thirties and beyond. The rates are identical across all three.
Choose from this list by name, or write two lines about the evening, and the desk offers whoever is on shift.