Convoluted Nonsense

This is likely to be a bit of a ramble as I try to sort out my thoughts on this week.
Before I left for the UK I had a chat with my boss that I was committed to getting to the next level in the company.  I'd worked at that level before for other companies and that I was in a place to make the jump.  He told me he was glad to hear me say it and he'd help me prepare so that if the opportunity presents itself I'd have a shot at it.
He went out on vacation this week and left me as his manager in charge.  I've done it for him quite a lot before, but he recently inherited 5 new direct reports in an org change and this was one aspect that made things different. I should also mention that most of the 5 new folks worked for my boss in a previous job. It concerned me that I might lose some favour to directs that he had worked with for years. One other thing that was different was that he had me attend all of his meetings normally held with his peers and his boss' staff meeting.  We hadn't done that before - so I could see that this was to give me some exposure.
I worried for nothing on the losing favour bit - although I have much less of his time than I did before I could tell I was still in very good standing.  He was spending an immense amount of time with his new/old directs and I gathered that wasn't necessarily for good reasons - they NEEDED his help. In my boss' absence I was startled to find that several of the new/old directs, two with years more experience in the company than me, were coming to me several times a day for direction. They were coming to their peer to tell them what to do.  They weren't brainstorming, or partnering or asking for input or someone to give them perspective.. they were coming to me so I would tell them what to do.  My mouth must have been hanging open.  I haven't gone to my boss empty handed like that since I was a kid. This tells me why I'm pretty well regarded by my boss.  It also tells me that he's not a genius at hiring managers.
I can hardly wait for this week to be over.