12.01.21 - O circo pegou fogo

Halloooo,

Hope all well sausage-side! We've been hard at work at the Powys Content Sluice Node 27B/6, and Gabi picked up where she left off with her patients starting yesterday, now with assistance from her mentee Ana and her digital assistant Gisele (i.e. me using an old iPhone).

Otherwise we've been following the shenanigans taking place among our American cousins, which brought to mind the local expression "o circo pegou fogo", i.e. "the circus has caught fire", or "the sh*t has hit the fan". And made a mixtape, obvs.

Speak soon,

Fred-eral Bureau of Investigation

05.01.21 - Perrengue chique

Halloooo, and may I add Happy New Year!

We're back from Ilhabela having spent a lovely week doing very little except strolling from one beach to another, occasionally stopping for lunch, admiring the view and lazing by the hotel pool when the afternoon rain set in. Except for one day when we climbed up a three-part waterfall, and another when we were almost drowned and had most of our possessions swept away by the sea in quick succession. I also read the whole of the Existentialist Café book, which was most enjoyable!

On New Year's Eve we ordered a bunch of food from one of our favourite haunts, picking it up just before the heavens opened and the island ground to a halt, and had a candlelit dinner by the pool, complete with complimentary bottle of champers and fireworks next door.

The vibe was a bit different from previous trips, obviously, but the promised shutdown of non-essential businesses on Jan. 1st didn't materialize, no one apart from us really bothered with masks or social distancing (not even the cops), and life went on pretty much as normal when it wasn't raining. I even got over the lack of a self-service cake bar at breakfast pretty quickly.

Normal service has now been resumed back here, we've been reunited with the cats, the drilling has picked up with a vengeance, I've made a mixtape, and my phrase of the day ("perrengue chique") basically means "first-world problems". 

It's also the handle of an extremely entertaining Instagram account which reposts home videos of people trying to enjoy their holiday in exotic and luxurious locations in Brazil and around the world, only to be thwarted by queues, thunderstorms, flooding and other intrusions (the tidal wave at our local beach and ensuing carnage featured prominently).

Until next time - speak soon!

Fredvillainy

29.12.20 - É pavê ou é pra comer?

Hallloooo,

Most excellent to speak the other day, and hope you had yourselves a merry little Xmas in Erli - loved the pics! Ours was fairly low-key, involving lots of eating at both Gaby's parents and her aunt and uncle's on Christmas Eve, followed by more eating on Christmas Day for good measure.

After a few more days doing as little as possible we set off yesterday morning to Ilhabela, where we will be wintering until the New Year in a rather nice flat overlooking the sea. The whole state and island is due to shut down non-essential activities completely on January 1st, so we may have to get creative in order to feed ourselves for the last few days of our trip, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I've made my final mix of 2020, and my phrase of the day is a prime Xmas-period dad joke/pun over here, involving a dessert called "pavê". When it's unveiled at Xmas dinner, the wit of the group will invariably ask: "É pavê ou é pra comer?" ("is it just to look at (pra ver), or to eat?"). And there is much rejoicing.

Speak soon, and Happy New Year!

Auld Lang Fred

22.12.20 - Trem bom

Halloooo,

Good to Zoom t'other day, as we traversed São Paulo in search of cake and stray grandparents. 

Ridaut's birthday went off without a hitch and was a nice warm-up for the Xmas season, in a blaze of MEAT and ICE CREAM. Gaby is officially on holiday this week, but unofficially prepping and recording her course so we've been mainly working on that, with some PR thrown into the mix for good measure. 

I've made another compilation, and can recommend this folk Christmas mix for the holiday season. My phrase of the day comes from Minas Gerais, where for some reason they refer to everything as a "train", i.e. anything good is a "good train", the bus is a "train", etc (although the bus stop is a "pondions", a contraction of "ponto de onibus"). Can get very confusing, I'm sure.

I will be doing a live set of Christmas songs on the 24th as grist to Gaby's content mill, so hopefully see you there; and let's talk on the 25th in any case. 

Ciao for now!

The Fred, White & Blue

15.12.20 - Jag anar ugglor i mossen

Halloooo,

Lovely to speak yesterday! As mentioned there really isn't all that much going on at the moment, so we're just going about our business planning Gabi's course and looking forward to the holidays. 

Also I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the week comes from Sweden, where people who suspect that all is not right apparently say "Jag anar ugglor i mossen", or "I sense owls in the swamp".

Ciao for now,

Fred Sheeran

08.12.20 - Quem não dá assistência perde para a concorrência

Halloooo,

Good to speak at the weekend, and hope all well in royal Covid's city. The new job has been going well, basically carrying on what I've been doing for them all year only more so, and without the additional eight hours a day of frenzied translation project management afterwards, which has been a relief. Now I just need to remember what I used to do in my spare time...

In other news I've made a new mixtape, and my Brazilian phrase of the day goes out to my old job - "if you don't lend a hand, you lose out to the competition" (only snappier and with a better rhyming scheme). Keep the art advent calendar coming, and speak soon!

Ciao for now,

The Fred is the Beginning is the Fred

01.12.20 - Jacaré comprou cadeira mas não tem bunda pra sentar

Halloooo,

Hope all well and let's Skype soon, yes? My fault for launching into impromptu live shows, of course. This week I wrapped up my affairs with Day Translations and am starting my new proper job at Sherlock literally as we speak so let's see how that goes. 

Not much else to report otherwise as we self-isolated following a (thankfully unfounded) COVID scare involving Adny and Ridaut. We've been fine-tuning Gaby's entrepreneurial vision, which sounds grand but mainly involved balancing an iPad-turned-teleprompter on top of a rickety pile of books while taping her latest video, and reeling from a bout of summer humidity.

I've cobbled together a new compilation despite the record release calendar slowing down for the end of the year, and my phrase of the day ("jacaré comprou cadeira mas não tem bunda pra sentar") applies to people who make an impulsive decision and regret it later: "the alligator bought a chair but has no bottom to sit on".

Ciao for now,

The Fredge of Glory