18.10.16 - Quebrar galho

Greetings from São Paulo, where summer has finally got its act together and we sit slack-jawed and prostrate, usually in hammocks. Everyone has dutifully switched from complaining about the cold to complaining about the heat. Even the dogs over the road have stopped barking quite so much, and we've called off the drone strike for now.

I've been getting over a touch of post-UK lurgee so haven't been up to a huge amount recently - a particularly good burger, at the imaginatively-titled "O Burguer" in Moema on Wednesday, is about the extent of our travels.  That day was a national holiday in honour of Our Lady of Aparecida, a saintly apparition in a river following a particularly fruitful fishing session back in the 1700's, and as good a reason as any for a day off.  This led to reenactments of the "Lady of the Lake" scene in Monty Python & the Holy Grail, and there was much rejoicing.

On Sunday we all went to Gaby's grandma's for a superlative birthday BBQ, featuring singalongs, grilled cinnamon pineapple (Grilled. Cinnamon. Pineapple.) and a WhatsApp tutorial on her new smartphone, before heading back to collapse. Tonight I ride to Pinheiros for a new open mic (there is more than one!), so we'll see how that goes...

My weekly phrase - "quebrar galho", or "to break the branch" - means to lend someone a hand to overcome a problem in extremis, as far as I can tell. Finally, this week I've made one regular compilation, and another special-edition effort on Youtube that attempts to sum up the horrors of the US Presidential Election as we enter the final strait... I should warn you that both contain traces of Leonard Cohen. 

That will be all - speak soon!

The Hunt for Fred October