TAFF - pg 18 Ken said be had no phone, so we wrote him a post card & the three of us signed it. We tried to compare fan groups in various cities and I related what I knew of the clubs in the U.S. & talked about the Midwest- cons, our get togethers at Bellefontaine with Doc Barrett, some compar- isons of U.S. and 8ritisb fandom, etc. No attempt was made to solve the worlds problems, we simply had a good bull session that evening. The next morning, Tuesday April 12th, was the appointment to visit Pyrene Ltd. Mr. Williams, the Finishing Superintendent, was to pick me up at Ted Carnell's office at 10 am. I told Ken 9:30, so I'd be sure to get there on time. I was up about 6 am or so & then Ken saw me off to the train, saying be was now going back home & sleep some more. I don't know why, we'd had 4 hrs sleep already. Ted was not in when I arrived & I waited in the lobby to make sure I wouldn't miss Mr. Williams. He arrived & we introduced ourselves & were just leaving when Ted showed up. Pyrene is out on Great West Road in Brentford. They make fire extin- guishers and bumpers at this particular plant. Since Autolite also makes bumpers & we use the same basic process from Harshaw Chemical Co. we had much in common. Mr. Williams had also toured automobile & bumper factories in the U.S. last summer...including out plant at Sharonville. Apparently they had treated him well in the U.S. He seemed determined to outdo the hospitality he'd received. We talked "Shop" a bit. I showed him some stereo slides I'd taken of our plant & then went on a tour of their plant. I photographed whatever I liked & they stopped any operation if necessary. I concentrated more on items that were different from ours & that might be adapted for our operations. Next we went out for lunch & he tried to fill my hollow leg full of gin at a pup called the Red Lion, not too far from Kew Gardens. The fillet steak did, though. We returned to the plant about 2 pm where the engineering staff was awaiting us. They viewed tbe stereos & asked questions about our equipment & operations & I turned over to them some samples of a planting pin that we use to ho1d the bumpers onto the plat- ing carriers. They now intend changing over to them. It was not too late to get me back to Ted's office a 5, so Les Flood's book store was selected instead. I supposed he'd just drop me off there but no, he wanted to meet Ted. We ended up down in the cellar with Les in his office. Then Mr. Williams said he was going to take all of us out to Dinner. Les had an engagement, so it ended up with the 3 of us going to the Carvery in the Regent Palace Hote1. This is somewhat on the lines of a smorgasbord. There are roasts on a v-shaped counter and you're invited to carve your own meat. Being the bashful soul that I am, I only made 3 trips. Then we adjourned to the bar until 10 pm. All during this time, I still couldn't spend a penny. I kept insisting that I be allowed to buy at least one round of drinks, but nothing doing.