Beauperi Investments – Wine Consulting – Page 3

Posted on November 10, 2018November 15, 2018 by beauperi · 1 Comment

Leaving London

Monday, 29 October, 2018 – Drizzly and Cold, but we are leaving town

Loyal followers of this Blog. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot see the photos and / or the captions or alignments are messed up, please go to http://www.beauperi.com directly and all those problems should go away.

It is time to say goodbye to London after a week there. Julie arrived late last night from Oxford and I dozed a little bit. She is up early as usual to go get bread rolls and smoked salmon.

I never knew the exact checkout time for the apartment but we select 10:30. Ryan orders an Uber which arrives on time. The driver was very aggressive weaving in and out of traffic but we make it to Heathrow in good time.

I was going to title this “The 980th reason I hate flying”. We get to the airport to check-in and the Singapore Airlines Business Class counters are not to open for another 7-8 hours. So our choice is to fight the hordes to go through economy. Julie shows the guy in charge her Doctors letter and we are sent down to a special queue for special requests. One group crowded in front of the queue and took ages with plane changes booking changes, etc. Then there was a dog in the queue in front of us. The girl in charge disappeared for ages before finally coming back.

Finally it was our turn and although she had acted like a dingbat, she was very efficient, tagging all of our suitcases with priority tags including the kids flying Economy class, move their seats up to near the front of Economy that was the only good part of this whole process. There is still another 9 hours to wait until the flight is to take off, so the kids decide to go back into London. We finally escape into the restricted area and walk for about 30 minutes to the one Singapore airlines lounge, near the boarding gate.

That whole process took around 4 hours of hassles etc.

20181029_165945 — This becomes my home for the next 8 hours

Julie went prancing around the airport for ages. She caught up with the kids on their return from town. The lounge started making announcements ages before airplane departure that the plane was about to depart. This was obviously to gather novices towards the boarding area. The lounge was mostly full with people who had seen this gross trick before.

I made myself a few Bloody Marys, found some OK French wine although it changed in place to place over the next 8 hours. The food was fairly ordinary for Singapore Airlines.

20181029_170000 — Good collection of juices and waters

20181029_170014 — The only Asian dish was Chop Suey – that went out of fashion in the 60s

20181029_170024 — The cold cuts and salads were OK, if you like that kind of thing

20181029_170035 — Sandwiches, same comment

20181029_173514 — Finally some spicy chicken wings that were quite good

The airplane is to depart at 10:45 and then they tell us they will send a cart to pick us up at 10:15. Julie had elected to walk to the gate which wasn’t too far away and when the cart dropped me off, Julie and the kids were waiting there. We get sent to a special boarding area and there are about 20 of us cripples waiting to board.

The airplane is a new wide body with extra wide seats. One means of achieving these wide seats was to cut down on storage space. Also there was no overhead storage against the side of the plane, we were in a 1-2-1 configuration and had to share the overhead bin in the middle with the passenger against the wall. Minor whinges really.

20181029_224920 — They served me a Bloody Mary as the clock reached midnight

Bonus – more of Julie’s Graduation Photos
Some of you have already seen these.

4095-319 — In clobber, apparently was very cold

4095-154 — Getting presented with the plaque

4095-316 — With the group – Paul Fischer said unkindly that Julie was over twice their age, Julie put it a different way – she was older than all of their parents

Posted on October 29, 2018October 29, 2018 by beauperi

The School of Rock

Sunday, 28 October, 2018 – OK but Cold

After Julie’s late arrival, she is up early to go to the shos for the usual roll, Salmon and water. I have a piece of toast with Ham and melted cheese.

There has been discussion about going to see a matinee today. Tanika has a sore throat and decides she will stay in bed. Julie goes out again and buys the ticket in Covent Garden.

The show we are seeing is School of Rock. For details of the basic story, please see this website which describes the original movie starring Jack Black, who was supposedly tremendous

Ryan said that Jack Black, as Dewey Finn, was absolutely tremendous. At one stage this was the highest grossing musical of all time.

Any way, in this musical play, co-written and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the music / songs have all been rewritten.

The show is at 3:00 PM but Julie insists that we get away at 1:45. The trip involves a walk to the station, Earls Court, and a train for several stops to Covent Garden. Ryan and Julie guide us to the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

20181028_143332 — The Guys waiting to have bags checked before entering the theatre

Ryan has not eaten so goes out for some food, dumplings we understand. We go up to our seats, which is a long climb of a lot of stairs. We purchase a very expensive small glass of wine and take them to the seats. It is a smallish theatre and we have seats near the back and to the side but they are OK.

20181028_162021 — Looking towards the Orchestra

Eventually Ryan shows up. Shortly after the show commences with the voice of Andrew Lloyd Webber saying he is always asked if the (10 yo) kids are really playing those musical instruments. The answer “definitely”. And they are damn good.

As the show begins, we are told that no photos were to be taken. So I obeyed that but towards the end, the character playing Dewey Finn, the Jack Black part, told the audience that now was the time to take some photos.

20181028_173128 — another view of the band

After the show ends, we take the long walk down the stairs, which I hate. It is even worse as we are going to the street, another 4 or 5 flights. As we walk to the station, we go quite the wrong way. Eventually, we follow the crowd to the station. Our detour may have been a good thing as it enables the crowd to thin out a bit.

Convent Garden station is not as bad as it used to be, with 4 elevators up where there used to be just one. The train is very crowded but I get a seat, the others are happy to stand. When we get to Earls Court, Tanika is waiting for us to join us for dinner. We decide to go to our old favourite Thai place that I photographed the entrance the other day. Gary and I first went to this restaurant 10 years ago.

It takes a while to get our order taken but then service moves relatively quickly after that. The place was quite full but starts clearing out quickly shortly after.

20181028_185446 — Special mixed entrée for all of us, some of it was quite good

20181028_190417 — Our Australian Wine, better than the one we ordered

20181028_191342 — Tanika’s Chicken Curry

20181028_191435 — Julie’s Whole Fish with Spicy sauce, a bit much but she eats it all

20181028_191611 — An extra green chicken curry arrived, Ryan ate most of it

We walk back to the apartment. The end of a long and eventful day. We leave London for the long trip back home tomorrow.

Posted on October 29, 2018 by beauperi · 2 Comments

Graduation Day

Saturday, 27 October, 2018 – Drizzly and Cold, but better than yesterday

For those of my followers that know Julie well, e.g. Dawn/Chas, Lois and Peter, Brenda, Gary, Dave and Kate, sorry if I left out some worthwhile people, this is probably the main post that you have been waiting for. Here are some photos taken of the graduation by friends up in Oxford, we were still in London.

20181027_112736(0) — Julie in graduation clobber, I could go for someone like that

20181027_120217 — Julie and Classmate Friends

20181027_121441 — Julie in the Sheldonian Theatre

We had gone to the Sheldonian last year to see a music performance. The Theatre is circa 1669 with the most amazing roof design.

20181027_152517 — Julie with another classmate friend who I met last year

20181027_203551 — At the graduation dinner, Julie had a smoked salmon starter

20181027_213444 — and a white fish for main course

The afternoon fines up to be quite a nice day. I go for a lengthy walk around the blocks. The French restaurant had a special on where one get get all you can eat salad and fries, all you can drink champagne and rose and a main course for 30 pounds. However, it was only at lunch and the kids weren’t interested. I walked by it and there was only one patron participating, not a roaring success.

When I get back near home, I take a couple of photos of our apartment from the outside.

20181027_113017 — We are in the ground floor just up those stairs

20181027_113022 — Those two windows are where I worked

In the mean time, while back in the ranch, Ryan and Tanika come back about 4:00. The plan is to go out for dinner at another Pub but Tanika eats some food and is not hungry.

So, since Julie has left a couple of dinners for me in the fridge, I make an executive decision that we will eat in.

20181027_180033 — Thai Green Curry and Rice for me

Ryan has a gourmet pie that was scheduled for me. Then after all that, the two of them go out for dinner.

Julie is scheduled to come back in around Midnight. I end up having a 3 hour nap while waiting. The Kids get home around 11:45 and not long after Julie arrives. Naturally she is quite wound up and ends up not going to bed until around 2:30 AM. I surprise myself by going back to sleep for a few hours.

Posted on October 29, 2018 by beauperi

Julie goes to Oxford

Friday, 26 October, 2018 – Drizzly and Cold

Yes, Julie gets up early to go off to Oxford. She was supposed to leave at 6:30 but was late leaving again. She made the train on time, probably by running all the way with her suitcase, and arrived at Oxford. Julie is staying overnight in Oxford. Her accommodation was a long way away from the station, she was going to the physio, hairdresser, etc. Julie logged up 22 KM that day.

With the cold / wet weather I stayed inside until the late afternoon. Ryan and Tanika come back around 5 PM and after a quick wine we go out to go to a local Pub.

20181026_172610 — Our selected Pub, not that far from home

20181026_173032 — The Pub is from the 1880s, note the Halloween decorations

20181026_173748 — Ryan went to the bar and ordered drinks, this beer came back for him and a wine we eventually shared

20181026_175217 — Bangers and Mash for me, just OK

Ryan said that there were so many foreign type people working there they did not know the term bangers and mash.

20181026_175223 — Beef burger and triple cooked fries for Ryan, fries were great

20181026_175229 — Fush and chups for Kiwi Tanika, with mushy peas

The chips were also triple cooked and bigger in size that the fries. The fish was one I did not know but was said to be pretty good by the guys.

Back to the apartment for me and more good wine. No word from Julie in Oxford.

Posted on October 28, 2018 by beauperi

Borough Market

Thursday, 25 October, 2018 – nice but cool, cold at night

Today we go to the Borough Market near London Bridge. Two trains does it. Now we have been to this market several times before and I don’t take many photos.

I suggested the night before that we go at 11:30 which was a dumb idea because the market was packed with people as it was the whole time we were there. We fight our way through the crowds and eventually find the shop that does confit duck.

20181025_125604 — Selfie of me and my Confit Duck roll

It is clear that there is nowhere to sit. I stand behind a pole next to a stall that labels itself the best Burger in the market. There is a queue for that stall that just keeps growing. A big black guy at the front takes the orders, collects the money and cooks many of the burgers. There are also two other assistants madly cooking away too.

Julie wanders off to theoretically order food but is unsuccessful. She initially could not find me when she returned empty handed. She then spotted a wine bar across the way. We go inside and I take a seat while she goes out again to get her Salmon for lunch.

20181025_131124 — Fine slicing of what looks like pate

20181025_131153 — Using a blowtorch to melt the cheese on a pulled roll

20181025_132529 — Looks like Julie buying Salmon from an outdoor grill

20181025_131546 — I invested 35 Euro in a bottle of wine and a seat for an hour or two

20181025_132203 — There is an upstairs completely booked out

There is also a downstairs which has a private room, not in use. It also has 4 clean toilets. There were that many mothers that came in, pretended to look at the menu while the kids went downstairs to the toilet and then said nothing suited them and left. I imagine that these guys have seen it all many times before.

Finally Julie returns and has her 3 course meal – wine, coffee and (sparkling) water. Although she doesn’t drink any of the wine, just yet and heads out again into the market. Apparently it is still just as crowded.

When Julie comes back again, she is keen to leave as she has to go to Oxford tomorrow and do some packing / rearranging. We go out the door on the street and straight to the train station. Two trains and a walk and we are home.. No more photos