27.07.21 - Da minha vida cuido eu

Halloooo,

Glad to hear you made it back home after an eventful UK tour. We went to São Paulo at the weekend to visit Fernando's wee bairn, flex our 2-for-1 booklet credentials at one of the city's fine dining establishments, and pick up Zila for another week in the country (she's been put to work washing and sewing!). 

We also had Patricia & Bill round for a particularly scrumptious BBQ on Saturday, and have been bracing against historic drought and cold in quick succession (again, "historic" by Brazilian standards, but still pretty unwelcome). I've made another mixtape, and my phrase of the week literally translates as "I take care of my life", and is roughly equivalent to "I'll be the judge of that".

Speak soon!

Fredpool

20.07.21 - Falar é prata, mas calar é ouro

Helloooo, and a warm welcome to all new members of the Gringolândia SP mail-out ! You are receiving this because the blog compiling all these emails isn't getting any traffic; please reply "UNSUBSCRIBE" to unsubscribe.

Not much to report here this week - it's dreadfully chilly for Brazil at the moment, and our house is very much built for heat, so we're piling on the duvets and waiting for our torment to end, probably by the end of the day. There's plenty to be getting on with, and I've been summoned for jab #1, so will be doing that at some point this week, fingers crossed.

Elsewhere I've made another one of my weekly compilations, and my phrase of the day ("Falar é prata, mas calar é ouro") is a Brazilian riff on "silence is golden": "to speak is silver, but to shut up is gold". 

Hope all is well in the Land of the Free (as of yesterday), and speak/Zoom soon!

You've Got a Fred in Me

13.07.21 - Chegou a hora da onça beber água

Hallooooo,

Hope all is well, and that your Home Nations tour is going to plan - say hi to everyone from me! Over here we're working away on multiple fronts, including a website overhaul for a Sherlock acquaintance which is taking a lot more man hours than expected. On Saturday we went to São Paulo for the day to take care of assorted business, and say hi to Fernando in his new flat before he becomes a dad later this week. 

Then on Sunday we barbecued, before the inevitable penalty-shootout-fuelled ennui set in; Brazil and England losing two finals over consecutive evenings is some going! The one silver lining is that I won the Sherlock Comms office guess-the-results Copa America tournament, despite not watching any of the games and guessing/inputting all the results in about 5 minutes.

Elsewhere I've made another mixtape, and my phrase of the day was overheard in the crucial final stages of the Copa America, when one of the commentators on TV remarked that "it's time for the leopard to drink water". In leopard-free English, I believe the sport-themed equivalent is "squeaky bum time".

And on that note,

Speak soon!

... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Fred

06.07.21 - Chorar as pitangas

Halloooo,

Hope all well by the Med. We've been hosting multiple people this past week while juggling multiple work and social media commitments, which all got a bit much in terms of maintenance and general bonhomie but was great fun at the time. 

On Sunday we went to Holambra, a Dutch settlement and the flower capital of São Paulo state, for a weekend jolly. We'd gone before but it was off-season, and this time around it was much livelier, plus we'd booked a tour that took us to some of the actual flower farms, allowing for plenty of photo ops in sunflower fields and under clog trees. Would recommend!

Otherwise it's been pretty full-on as mentioned, but we've been taking time out to experiment with brunches and gardening, among other things. I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day means "to cry pitangas" (a kind of local red fruit), or basically cry until your eyes are red - often used disparagingly/ironically of people who complain a lot.

Ciao for now!

Fred-Eyed and Blue