INT. CHAMPION IDMISTON CHAMPAGNEing to llme. Desbrieref de Laveieye.His broad hearl, lovely large greeileyes made him an attractive exhibit.Best Blue British type Shorthair rvasN[r, Marolle's {ema]e Velvet Douce deTrevise, a lady with a lovely shadein coat and an excellent head.Mme, Lasnier's Chocolate PointedSiamese, bred by hersel{, ri'cre an interestingexhibit-Viedam de laSabliere, the male, and Vimy de laSabliere, the femaie. I made thefemale Best Siamese. She rvas svelteand had a long whip tail, a gooclhead, short fine coat, and her colouringwas loveiy. Both these cats hadthe warm shade oI crearn body colourwhich harmonises so well rvithchocolate points. No need to speculatewhether or not these cats werepale Seals or Chocolate PointedSiamese-their points u'ere definitel)'" milk chocolate." ! 'The u'inning Seal Pointed malervas Mme. Bussy's Weep,. r'ho wasconsiderably larger than the averagesize of u'inning Siamese males inEngland. His tail had a slight kink,a fault I found in nearly everySiamese exhibit.Mme. Bridgett and Mme. Gibbonexhibited Int. Champion Idmiston2BChampagne (not for competition)"He is an even better male than whenhe le{t England a {u11. Champion. IIervas naturally short oI coat, but itrvas 6, Iovely pale shade and his head,type and eyes are exceptional.The Show was splendidly organisedby Mme. Destrem, the SecretaireGeneral, and Mme. Ravel v'as obviduslytaking a keen interest ineverything and her help and advicelere Irequently sought. l'he floraldecorations were lovely and some oIthe exhibitors had outlined theirshow pens with white lilac, carnationsand other flowers, as Is customaryat Continental exhibitions.15th May. Sunday, and the secondday of the Shorv. Photographersand Path6 Gazette men were busytaking pictures. Everyone iookingtheir best. Mme. Bridgett and myselfgave NIme. Sandoz, of Zurich, anexamination whjch she passed successfully.She is now eligible tojudge. Mme. Sandoz was given aclass of Blues to judge under exactlythe same conditions as w'e had had,viz., all the cats were brought tothe plat{orm and penned by stervards-We remained in lhe background
lrhilst -NIme. Sandoz rvrote a very de_tailed report on each cat. Then sheretired rvhrlst rve had. our consuita_tlon. IIme. Sandoz has stewardeclseveral times on the Continent andalso lor ]Iiss yorke and myself inSrvitzerland last November. She hasknox'ledge, confidence and person_ality, and I shall await her debutuith interest.The remainder of the day u,as alsovery iriteresting. Mr. Formont,owner o{ Talisman of Knott Hall,bred by Mr. Felix Tomlinson, is verypleased with his purchase. Talismanhas grown into a fne cat and u,illprobably be exhibited at next season'sshow in France.The proceeds from the Show weregiven to the radio village of Epron.The prizewinners received the usuallovely gifts instead of prize money,which is c,ustomary with Continentalevents. Altogether a memorablegathering and it was a joy to seesome very lovely cats. Kittens u,erevery ferv in number except in thelitter ciasses, but this is quite normalJor a mid-May show.16th May. A short visit to Mme.Ravel in the morning prevlous tolunching with Mme. Sigwalt at herlovely flat in the Rue Montaigne.Her two Blue queens u.ere nur5ingsix fine kittens by Thornhill BlueBoy. Her Chinchilla queen, BentveldJune, bred by Miss posthuma, ofHolland, had been awarded the chal_certfficate,lenge the preVious day bylIme. Bridgett. Mme. Sigwalt,slatest acquisition is an Abyssinian.. In the evening our littie pariy leftby train for Nice. Mme. Ravel andMme. Sarrazin - to see us ofi, bothvery kind and thoughtful for ourcomfort. NIme. Bridgett and X{issRoyd-Smith shared a sleeping carand rvhen I said good-night to themthe former had her Cream cat happilykneading his paws on theblankets. It is a popular fallacy thatcats are only happy in their ownhomes. They are much more devotedto their orvners than they aregrven credit for.lTth May. lrlet at Nice by NIrs.Strang-Stee1, Secretary General ofthe Riviera Cat Club. This Club ll.aslounded about 1986 and held its lastpre-war show at an hotel. facing thesea on the promenade des Anglais.It was in a flourishing state lvhenwar put a stop to its activities, andsince then pedigree cats, with theexception of Siamese, have almostvanished from the Riviera, Mrs.Strang-Steel, hou,ever, is determinedto revive the Club and it is remark_able that it already has over 50 members,although they have not yetbeen able to acquire stock. TheSecretary formerly owned some lovelycats, including Ch. Woodchurch Desmond(bred in England by the latetr{rs. Forrestt) and some of Mrs.Askew's Blacks. In the evening,Mlle. Perrin, President of the SwissCat Club de Vaudois, arrived and wehad an enjoyable and informai dinnerparty. I was pleased to hear aII hercat family were well and the two Bluekittens by Champion Oxleys peter'John, bred by Mrs. Harrington-Harvard, and the Blue female byGem of iensford, bred by MissCattell, are very satisfactorv.18th May. By motor coach toGrasse with Mrs. Strang-Steel andl{11e. Perrin. }lere we spent a veryinteresting afternoon vlsiting thefactory of NI. Nlolinard, the scent anci'powder manufacturers.19th May. Luncheon party forten, rvhich inciuded most of the officialsof the Riviera Cat Club, whohave done such splendid lvork in restartingit. Mme. Bridgett veryanimated, and undoubtedly her visitgave a tremendous fillip to the Cluband much pleasure to the offrcials.20th M^y. To Cannes t,ith Mme.Bridgett to see a villa which she con-27