At the time, no-one told me personally or Rosneft about any mutual obligations to TNK-BP.
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But no one told me that my room would be on the second floor and there was no elevator.
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"There's nothing that says you can't be an Irishman and speak out for a different religious culture, " one told me.
One told me that being involved in Crossrail was like his own Hoover Dam (the huge US dam built during the Great Depression) in terms of scale and personal achievement.
Each one told me how they took time off, retreating into the unknown, tolerating (though not enjoying) the uncertainty, allowing things to fall apart without rushing to put them back together.
In their custom, men must pay a very specific dowry in order to wed and one told me that his girlfriend has waited 8 years for him to earn enough to marry her.
The other one told me that she was in a taxi going to face her husband's lawyer because she was getting a divorce, but she was wearing Lanvin and she felt so protected.
One collector told me recently that one of the great advantages she found when collecting contemporary art is that, if all else fails, the artist is still around to vouch for his or her work.
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One day he told me that one of his sales directors had called a few days earlier about rumors of impending layoffs that were permeating the company.
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One reader told me that the Chinese accounting standards were last updated in 2006.
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One executive told me to watch for a Tmall spin-out soon from the rest of Taobao.
One lawyer told me that she was not prepared to accept it any more.
One parent told me that some parents bribe teachers to make sure their children pass exams.
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The SVP at one firm told me, he no longer has to justify ROI on this initiative.
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One executive told me about the power Ma holds with such great traffic to Taobao and Tmall.
And one friend told me that a friend of a friend was hired while she was pregnant.
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One insider told me today that such a move is very much afoot.
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One trader told me that MF Global, with its 2, 847 employees, will likely cease to exist in the next three weeks.
One person told me that every time she wears Lanvin men fall in love with her, and I thought that was so beautiful.
"There is just so much money sloshing around and available for Internet businesses, " one guest told me conspiratorially as she quaffed her drink.
Last year the owner of one cafe told me he had been plagued by connection problems when using the phone network to get online.
We have something like 8, 000 banks out there now and one analyst told me he thought we can end up with half of that.
While Painter is a gifted story teller, the best one he told me is how he got elected president of his class at West Point.
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One delegate told me the EU is nervous of a vote here which would set Poland against its European colleagues and add to the EU's current turmoil.
When I wrote my piece on SEC finances awhile back, one AD told me they only pull enough from their athletic foundation to cover their operating deficit.
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