30.04.24 - Briga de cachorro grande

Hallooooo,

Hope all well, and thanks for your birthday wishes/song! We're just back from a lovely weekend in the heartland of Minas Gerais, having impulse-booked a trip the week before...

We stayed in a guesthouse on an amazing estate in a valley somewhere near the São Paulo border, just down the road from the tiny town of Passa Quatro, which had a working steam train, countless cheese shops and a spring funfair and food festival which was in full swing over the weekend, with everyone dressing up in their cowboy best. 

On Sunday morning we got the train up the hill to a tunnel which was apparently a bloody, strategic stronghold in the São Paulo Independence War of 1932, then back for a huge amount of pit beef and rice, then went to the next town over for a short hike to the Poço Azul, a Gorges du Loup-esque river and series of waterfalls. All accompanied with great (and absurdly cheap) food and country & western music.

We got a bit lost looking for food on the way back and almost totaled the car on a dirt track, but at least the view was amazing. Then it was a straight run back to the smog of the city, where we're already fighting with our neighbours about their increasingly loud dog.

In other news, I've made another compilation, and an "old man" mix for Instagram, and my phrase of the day means "a fight between big dogs", i.e. one you don't want to get involved in. And that's about it for now!

Speak soon,

Fred Wine Supernova

23.04.24 - A sete palmos

Halloooo,

Hope all well!

We've been out house hunting in the neighbourhood, knocking on doors and sizing up cupboards, etc. Turns out everyone is desperate to sell their old apartments, which we prefer over new-builds anyway, so that's encouraging. We also went out for dinner with friends on Friday and Saturday, before hitting a wall and basically spending Sunday in bed. 

In other news, I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day translates as "seven palms", the equivalent to "six feet under" - which I've just learned became standard operating/burying practice during the bubonic plague. Fun fact of the day!

Speak soon,

Fredpool & Wolverine

16.04.24 - Aos trancos e barrancos

Halloooo,

Hope all is well! 

Over here we're firming up plans for Buenos Aires in July, plus Gaby and Adny are going on a quick UK trip in late May. On Friday Gaby and I were among the inaugural guests of a pop-psychology podcast, and then we spent the weekend in Indaiatuba tending to our cats...

Elsewhere I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day means "by leaps and bounds", an equestrian saying that basically translates as "in fits and starts". And I think that's about it so far. 

Speak soon!

Fredbare

09.04.24 - Meter os pés pelas mãos

Hallooooo,

Hope all well. 

Not much to report here other than a rather cool trip to the National Theatre in the centre of town on Sunday; we only stayed for brunch in some kind of foyer, but now we want to go back and see a show from one of the main rooms... And later this week Gabi and I are booked to go on a psychology podcast and talk about cultural differences, so we'll see how that goes!

In other news, I've made another compilation, plus a standalone "Gringos in Brazil" mix for Instagram; and my phrase of the day, "meter os pés pelas mãos" or "to put one's feet in one's hands" means to "put one's foot in it". And that's about it, AS IT STANDS.

Speak soon!

Against All Frods (Take A Look At Me Now)

02.04.24 - Custar os olhos da cara

Hallooooo,

Hope all well, and that you had a pleasant Easter/birthday time in Erli.  

We got out of town and stayed in a rather cool old country house by a reservoir in Mogi das Cruzes, on the occasion of a destination wedding down the road in a Club Med, which was also pretty cool and featured a great wedding band. Managed to catch up on my hammock time as well, which is always a bonus.

Elsewhere, there's a new compilation in town, and my phrase of the day means something "costs the eyes from the face", or is very expensive, in other words. Think that just about covers it - speak soon!

Frod x

26.03.24 - Não ter nem onde cair morto

Hallooooo,

Hope all well! The heatwave is finally over here, and the rain and cold has swept in - great for us, but not so much for the folk attending the Lollapalooza Festival in windswept Interlagos, which was soon rebranded as Lama(mud)-palooza.

We went to see some stand-up comedy instead, by an online comic and sometime co-collaborator of mine, then a whistle-stop tour of daily and friends on Sunday, which was most fun, and now we're scrambling to get various errands done before the long weekend and destination wedding of Gaby's dentist (long story) on Friday.

In other news, I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day refers to those who "don't even have a place to drop dead in", i.e. those in dire straits. Cheerful stuff, I'm sure you'll agree...

That's all for now - speak soon!

Give us this day our daily Fred

19.03.24 - A chinela vai cantar

Hallooooo,

Hope all well, and might I add once again, Happy Birthday! Not a lot to report here, we're in the midst of a heatwave and rigging up our humble air conditioner in increasingly ingenious ways so we don't dehydrate completely. Plus a lot of work and scheming for the future, as is custom. Tomorrow I've been invited to have dinner with 6 strangers as part of an app's social experiment/social media tie-in, which should be fun...

In other news I've made a compilation, and another royalty-themed mix for Instagram to spread the word about the missing Princess of Wales, and my phrase of the day ("a chinela vai cantar", or "the flip-flop is going to sing") is typically uttered by exasperated mothers threatening their children with a shoeing (or a flip-flopping) if they don't calm down. 

Speak soon!

The Fred on the Door

12.03.24 - Gastar meu réu primário

Hallooooo,

Hope all well! 

The year has well and truly begun here and it was full steam ahead during the working week. We were planning a quiet weekend in to recover, but ended up going out with a psychologist friend of Gabi's who was in town, then recording a bunch of silly videos around town on the Sunday. 

In other news, I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day means "to use up my first offence" - i.e. criminals with no priors often get lighter sentences, but sometimes a situation is so annoying that we're willing to commit our first offence to resolve it, presumably by violent means. But in a jokey way. 

Speak soon!

I'm Just Fred

05.03.24 - À flor da pele

Hallooooo,

Hope all well, and good to speak t'other day. Over here, Sherlock Week was a great success, as we showed the gringos around São Paulo and generally put any work off until the next week (i.e. now). 

On Friday we had our big annual party, where we played a tight half-hour set to rapturous plaudits, followed by rest and relaxation on Saturday (either side of returning a rented drum kit) and a barbeque and dip in the pool at Bruna's house in Aldeia da Serra on Sunday. And yesterday I went to see Dune Part 2 at the IMAX which was 3 hours of worm-riding fun.

Elsewhere I've made another compilation, and my rather poetic phrase of the week (literally "in the flower of the skin") refers to people in a fragile or heightened emotional state, either of excitement or exhaustion. And that's about it, I think...

Ciao for now,

Freidi Prime 

27.02.24 - Aí que tá o pulo do gato

Hallooooo,

Hope all well. 

We were out in the sticks at the weekend, visiting the in-laws with Zila, Bill and Luiza in tow and making full use of their swimming pool. And now we're in the midst of Sherlock Week, with PR folk flying in from all over the continent for training and other hi-jinks. On Friday we have our long-awaited yearly party, featuring a concert by the Sherlock House Band, and yours truly on drums this time. 

In other news I've made a new, rather chilled-out compilation, plus another one about fish for some reason; and my phrase of the day means "that's where the jump of the cat is", and acts as a kind of interjection whenever you want to say something like "that's the thing, though". I haven't had a chance to use it myself, but it's only a matter of time. 

Speak sooooon,

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

20.02.24 - Agradar a gregos e troianos

Halloooo,

Hope all is well. 

Carnaval has finally come to an end here, and everyone is reluctantly back to work and/or reality - we continued to keep our distance but ventured out to check out a new osteria (like a slice of Italy in the Zona Norte!) and meet Taynah & Rafa's new child.

Elsewhere I've made not one but two new compilations, and my phrase of the day means "to please Greeks and Trojans", i.e. to try and please everybody, within the realms of possibility. And that's about it for now! I'm off for another band practice ahead of our gig / work party next week...

Speak soon!

Fredicare

13.02.24 - Pular Carnaval

Hallooooo,

Hope all well!

It's Carnaval time, so we've been enjoying the merriment from afar, give or take the odd trip to Multilingo to hang out with the bilingual folk in Vila Madalena. We also escaped to nature and hiked up to the Big Rock (Pedra Grande) on Sunday, followed by a cinema trip to see "Poor Things".

In other news I've made a new compilation, and an all-Brazilian mix for the 'Gram as well. My phrase of the day is a confusing one, in that it can mean both "to skip Carnaval", i.e. sit it out, and "to jump Carnaval", i.e. to go to Carnaval and jump around, i.e. the exact opposite. Make of that what you will...

Speak soon!

Fredpool

06.02.24 - Calma calabreso!

Halloooo,

Hope all well. It's Carnaval week here but I'm carrying on my year-long stint of not really getting involved, and just keeping an eye on which streets have been shut down when planning trips. 

Instead we've been out and about with friends, including a child's birthday party at a safari-themed softplay centre, which included live animals (owls! chinchillas! baby alligators!), ziplining and those big blow-up spheres you can use to walk on water with. Gabi and her friends were a lot more into it than most of the eerily well-behaved children, so fun was had by all. 

I also met up with a fellow gringofluencer on Thursday to record some amusing videos together in Batman Alley, before heading to the Multilingo language night down the road. Hopefully that should pull me out of the Instagram doldrums, brought on when I foolishly posted a spoof advert for a Royal Family betting app...

Elsewhere I've thrown together another mixtape, and my phrase of the day is currently taking the nation by storm having gained prominence on Big Brother Brasil, delightfully nonsensical as it is ("calm down sausage!").

And that's about it - speak soon!

Don't Fred

30.01.24 - Ter uma carta na manga

Hallooooo,

Hope all well. 

It is somehow STILL January, Gaby is back to work full-time and I am considering a career pivot into translating after a rousing chat with Jub... in the meantime we headed to the country for a relaxing weekend with Ridaut & Adny, plus Ridaut is apparently off to Portugal for work this week, so we'll see how that goes.

Elsewhere, there's a new compilation afoot in the wind, and my phrase of the day ("ter uma carta na manga") can be translated as "to have a card up one's sleeve" (or, less frequently, "to have a letter on a mango", depending on context). 

'Til next time!

Fred of a Fred

23.01.24 - Arrumar sarna pra se coçar

Hallooooo,

Hope all well! It's been absolutely sweltering over here so we've been staying in and staying cool, although we did go out for a nice pizza on Saturday, and to a half-gringo, half-Brazilian BBQ on Sunday with my erstwhile Instagram colleague and fellow gringofluencer Seth, which was fun. 

In other news, I've made a new compilation, plus another one about the heat which I'm not sure you'll be able to relate to, but here's a link anyway... and my phrase of the day means "to look for itches to scratch oneself", or "to look for trouble", as the squares say.

And that's about it! Speak soon!

Fred Grátis

16.01.24 - Teimoso como uma porta

Hallooooo,

Hope all well! Over here we had a particularly leisurely weekend, eventually leaving the house for a birthday party at a rooftop bar and otherwise flopping about as a distant security alarm howled in the distance for three days straight. I also went to a "MultiLingo" night in Vila Madalena after work on Thursday, which was fun, although I couldn't find anyone to practice French with. 

In other news, I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day - "teimoso como uma porta", or "as stubborn as a door" - is a local analog of "stubborn as a mule", presumably. 

And that's about it for now - speak soon!

Deep Fred Memes

09.01.24 - O cavalo mordeu tua cabeça?

Halloooo!

Hope all well. Over here we're back at work and getting our house in order after the Xmas break, not to mention multiple extracurricular projects which I shan't bore you with. 

We also went to visit the Farol Santander, previously a bank headquarters and the tallest building in South America, in the centre of town, for a gander at the city from above, and a number of exhibitions, topped off with cocktails in the old vault, and a late-night detour to a French restaurant with flammekeuches and blowtorched creme brulée, among other things. Fun was had by all!

In other news I've got a new compilation, a new podcast out on Youtube with a nice man called Samuel, and a new phrase of the day ("did the horse bite your head?"), which is presumably uttered by incredulous citizens of Pará whenever anyone does anything that defies reason or logic. 

That's all for now - speak soon!

HorseFred Nebula

03.01.24 - Nadar, nadar e morrer na praia

Halloooo! And Happy 2024! 

We rang in the new year on the beach in Ilhabela, disconcertingly close to a huge fireworks display on a pier, before jumping over 7 waves and making 7 wishes (as is tradition), and heading back to bed. 

The rest of the week was spent swanning about between the breakfast buffet and an assortment of idyllic beaches and restaurants, in a leisurely fashion - the only fly in the ointment was a noticeable uptick in uncouth day-trippers crowding on to the island over the weekend with their boom-boxes, but then they were always going to find out about the place eventually...

Now it's back to work, and a multitude of side-projects from Instagram to my ebook and beyond. Gabi has cancelled all her appointments this month and will be working on all sorts of different stuff too... 

And finally, I've made a new compilation, and a topical party-themed mix as well; and my phrase of the day is "to swim and swim, and die on the beach", which is a tropical/slightly morbid take on "to fall at the last hurdle".

Speak soon!

Two Thousand and Twenty Fred