03.05.16 - Robocop Gay

Greetings from an actually-genuinely-quite-chilly São Paulo; after the Indian summer of the past few weeks, normal service has been resumed and the weather is now reminiscent of a particularly bearable English spring - sweaters and duvets have been taken out of mothballs, fondue kits are being dusted off, etc.

Friday was, of course, my birthday and I turned 29 with SURPRISE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE for breakfast (cunningly smuggled into the fridge by Gaby the night before disguised as leftover chicken (the cake, not Gaby)), followed by a trip to the Denmark Street of São Paulo to shop for guitars. I ended up just turning my old twelve-string over for a deep clean - if that doesn't do the trick we'll go back again this week and look for its successor, but I still hold out hope for its eventual electroacoustic resuscitation. 

The day was rounded off with a medley of fondues - cheese, meat and chocolate/fruit, for those of you keeping notes - in a bizarre, half-empty, distinctly chilly but somehow still appealing Swiss chalet up in the hills (that played "What a Fool Believes" when we walked in, amazingly), in the delightful company of Dany and André, sporting a Gryffindor scarf and spouting endless Brazilian proverbs for my ever-growing collection.

Then on Saturday we went to a gated, be-laked community out of town, for one of Ridaut and Adny's friends' annual birthday feijoada blowouts, where we ate plenty of meat & beans, downed a caipirinha or two and made a hasty getaway for the evening's main event, a karaoke marathon in town with various well-wishers in tow. Somewhere among the six hours of off-key Brazilian pop hits (including this cult classic about a gay cyborg by a band called the Killer Breasts - an obvious standout) Gaby and I got some songs in edgeways and had a whizzy jolly time, offset by plenty of napping on Sunday.

Yesterday we were granted a rare Bank Holiday off, so I went wandering round the Avenida Paulista in the sun for a bit until Gaby finished uni for the day; I also got in a bit of parallel parking practice with Ridaut at the weekend, which left me more confused and apprehensive than anything else, although I've got another, official lesson tomorrow afternoon before Test 2.0 on Thursday; and we've confirmed our jaunt to Iguazu Falls in September, which should be a fun place to visit, and to say, even.

That's all for noo - many thanks for your birthday wishes, and let's speak anon...

Fredr

PS: Nearly forgot: NEW COMPILATION, featuring hot-off-the-press Radiohead and much whimsy beside. Enjoy: https://play.spotify.com/user/freddypowys/playlist/4oG9tOsrhlu55capK44PG5