— DIANE CLEHANE

The scene at Michael's today was a bit more subdued than usual, with the power lunch crowd more focused on their own conversations than table-hopping. Overheard in the ladies room: "I know he's worried about losing his job, but if he does, he'll just write a book about this disaster." Small comfort, I know, but even media machers are having some sleepless nights. I did notice there was more wine flowing than usual. One staffer told me, "Everyone is nervous, so they're drinking more." But not everything was oh-so-serious: I spotted Heather Mills (in a strapless dress!) laughing and enjoying herself with Richard Johnson at Table One. The ex-Mrs. Paul McCartney has 50 million reasons to yuk it up. A few of us thought about sending our checks over to her -- what's a few bucks between diners? Maybe next time...

Here's the rundown on today's crowd:

1. Heather Mills with Page Six's Richard Johnson and a dark-haired unidentified gent

2. Toni Goodell and Amanda 'Binky' Urban

3. Three power blondes and a fellow named 'Sam,' so we're told...

4. Hallmark Channel honcho Henry Schleiff with Dan Wasser. Henry was thrilled to tell me Ladies of the House scored record ratings last week (a 1.9!) and was his network's highest-rated original non-holiday movie. Congrats! Hardworking Henry had himself quite a week last week. On Wednesday, after dining with TV icon Donna Mills, he left Michael's and drove out to the Hamptons Film Festival to squire around Jacqueline Bissett that very same evening. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

5. Arnold "Hold my table!" Scaasi, Parker Ladd and FIT's Valerie Steele

6. Three members of the 'Imber Gang': Dr. Gerry Imber, Michael Kramer and Jerry Della Femina. I was sorry to hear from Jerry that his wife, the tireless Judy Licht, is currently under the weather battling pneumonia. Get well soon!

7. Civilians enjoying their burgers

8. Diana Taylor (Mayor Bloomberg's gal pal) enjoying some white wine with a handsome chap who bore more than a passing resemblance to the Marlboro Man...

9. Susan Lyne and Jane Hartley

11. Estee Lauder's Alexandra Trower and 70s beauty icon actress Lois Chiles. I was thrilled to meet one of my absolute favorites (I know I'm dating myself but I used to save her Scavullo Cosmo covers. Back in the day, Lois was Robert Redford's love interest of choice (besides Barbra Streisand) in the definitive chick flick The Way We Were. Lois also starred in The Great Gatsby and was a very memorable Bond girl. Turns out Alexandra and Lois are old pals...

12. Ed Rollins with his wife Sherry and another gent

14. Stan Shuman

15. My good pal Tony Hoyt with a fellow we spotted 'dancing' in his seat.

16. Francine LeFrak and pals

17. Patty Sellers

18. Legendary photog Harry Benson

20. Freddie Friedman

21. Dan Wassong

23. Peter Price

24. Nick E. Rubinstein with Olivia Tomaselli

25. Tom Goodman

26. iVillage's Deb Fine

27. Allen & Co.'s John Josephson

28. Michael Kassan and son

29. Bevery Cahme, who introduced me to the charming Dr. Dan Tobin, CEO of Your Support Nurse and author of That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine. Dr. Tobin is on a very admirable mission to spread the word about the life lessons to be learned from family care-giving. "There's about 30 million boomers that are part of the 'sandwich generation' -- taking care of their kids and their parents," says Dr. Dan. "There's so much we should be talking about." Indeed.

Please send comments and corrections to DianeClehane AT mediabistro Dot com and lunch at mediabistro DOT com.