Somebody stop us

Well, this is coming from the biz class cabin of a BA 747 sitting in Sao
Paulo after a very bumpy descent and a hard landing. It's absolutely
chucking it down.

And we're delayed because the plane was struck by lightning on the
descent and they're checking everything. So we're sitting in the cabin,
having flown in from Buenos Aires, and the aircraft is half-empty
because they're not letting the SP people on board until the aircraft
has been given the A-OK......

They've actually turned on the in-flight entertainment for us, which
suggests the wait might be a long one.

(I heard the departing pilot - they change crews at SP - telling the
incoming flight deck crew that it was "quite an interesting approach"
which I guess is pilot-ese for 'bloody hairy').

Anyway, we're going for it, subject to assessment by a good agronomist
(we know where to find one), a good lawyer (we have one), and after some
hard talking with SWK. I'm blessing the day I started cultivating
contacts in Chile.... Because these days I know a very good wine maker,
any number of agro-industry people, someone in the Ministry of
Agriculture, a nurseryman who grows grape vines for planting, an expert
on irrigation and an agronomist, just for starters.....

The advice we've been given is to rent out the vineyard for at least
three years to begin with. That is obviously less profitable than
running it ourselves (which would be a disaster) or paying someone to
manage it (probable ditto), but it is essentially risk-free.

And then, maybe, we can buy some more land, or have a stab at it
ourselves, or just maintain the status quo. Basically, this plot should
provide a gross income of some £30k from grape - rental value, well,
we'll see what the lawyer says. I'm guessing at about US$9,000 a year
(Average per capita income in Chile is US$15k, if you're interested).

It's not intended to be our main living anyway. And at US$260,000, the
various SWKs concur it's a good purchase. We'll need to spend another
£150k (yes, that's sterling), I reckon, on what we want to do with it.
We'll need a decent (small) commercial-quality kitchen, a small swimming
pool, and two guest cabins for starters. Plus some work on the barn to
turn part of it into a workshop.

If it turns into catastrophe, well, that's the luck of the draw, but
this is probably the last chance we'll ever have to do something truly
life-changing that offers the opportunity of improving our quality of
life immeasurably.

"Oh,that a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

 

A man's gotta do and all that. Excellent!

 

Some way to go yet before congrats are in order, but we're starting.

 

I must be 'have the gift', I book marked the co-ords you gave as " Togs
vineyard"

 

In communiqué <1jv50k7.1u2wx0trn97g2N%>,

"The longest journey starts with but a single step." or something like
that.
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Well done, sir...

IMHO it's better to try something even if it doesn't work out rather
than never trying anything that involves the slightest amount of risk.

 

Ah. The "Laverda 750 Twin" approach.

 

"ditto".

Gives me some hope that I can manage my own trek to the glorious open
spaces of the west once P becomes the earner and me the indolent one.

 

Well, I've plnety of experience of the former.

 

+1
It'll be good to have a Southern Hemisphere destination. Winter trip
'n all. How's November, 2012 sound?

 

Unless you're sitting in the chokey.

 

Perfect, as we won't be there until 2013.

 

unless the "something" is "raping, killing and mutilating a small
child, forcing it's parents to watch whilst you did so, followed by
bludgeoning them to death with the severed limb of said small child".

I guess.

 

Surely that depends or whether or not you get caught?

Btw, your fantasies are slightly worrying. It's time for you to spend
some money on a hooker.

 

well, it'd be tricky to use the "I just slipped and fell onto it"
excuse.

never. "I've never paid for sex, except emotionally".

 

<helpless sniggering>

 

That's OK. We can get the place "ready" for you.

 

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

I know this isn't going to resonate with the whole devil-may-care, rugged
individualistic libertarian antiestablishment schtick, but that is
actually probably not true.

 

Not always, it depends.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+