After Fudge was kicked upstairs, and following a period of indecision, for about 22 months until March 2000 (that's real time of course not the continuous present of the strip) the buying department was headed by a lady. There are really only three things to be said about her:

1. She is a babe, commonly referred to as "Barbie Doll" and an object of desire for every man in C-Ps. Copies of the House Journal bearing her photograph are collectors' items. Even the tramps in the park, C-P rejects to a man, are envious of Bristow for working close to her.

2. She has never appeared in the strip.
   

3. She is unaware of Bristow's existence and nobody seems willing to enlighten her.

Why Chester-Perry's broke the habits of a lifetime to appoint an outsider and a female - strip 10201 to a top job in management is a great mystery. Maybe the firm is finally waking up the changes in society since 1960.  Unfortunately we never found out anything about her. She had no name, was never seen and had no contact with Bristow, who became known as the "man left out in the cold". He was still there of course, "working" in the Buying Department but he never met his boss. In the good old days when Fudge was in charge, Bristow was always being hauled over the coals for his laziness, stupidity or inefficiency. Fudge always had a great pile of papers ready to be dumped on Bristow's desk if he thought Bristow had insufficient work. But what was going on with the LCB? Who kept on top of Bristow? Where did he get his work from? He used to do little enough before. Had it all gone to Jones? Or was there been a fundamental re-organisation that cut the Buying Department out of the system and left it in office limbo?

The great innovation did not last. Fudge returned (demoted?) to take charge after Barbiedoll went to America, got married, and never came back. It looks as though everything is getting back to normal, though as Prince Charles might say, "whatever normal is".

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