Such a pity because the food was disappointing, our kitchen was left in such a mess, and we had quite a job to clean it ourselves.  Otherwise, everyone had a very good time. 

John & Francoise Samuels from London with Family

A Tempting Offer

We went with Michelle and Jason to California one year to visit my sister Rayner and her husband Jerry Needleman.  They have a lovely home at a wonderful high location in Sausalito with a view of San Francisco over the Bay. 

Whilst we were together, we all went to a holiday camp at the University of Santa Barbara just for a week and because Trudy and I were members of 'The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society' our friend Bob Hall (a well-known Snuff Bottle Dealer) arranged for us to be invited to Neal Hunter's home that happened to be near to where we would be staying. 

They were such a lovely couple, and we had such an amazing time with them one evening, when they showed us their own fabulous collection - what a treat that was! 

We went into San Francisco a few times and we paid a visit to 'Sam Bernstein & Co.' the famous jade dealer shop in the Fairmont Hotel.  Where we met Mr and Mrs Ashkenazie and had a very interesting time studying their jades, when in conversation we were surprised to learn that they were interested in buying a Jensen CV8, but even more surprising (having seen our collection), they told me they would really like someone like me, to act as a buyer for them in Europe! 

They asked if we would ever like to live in San Francisco?  We had loved spending time there and this sounded tempting, I said I would have to think about it.  However, nothing further ever came from this discussion. 

 
A Big Change About to Happen

The first difficulties that arose were that the larger cinema circuits started competing with us for the same specialised continental films.