14.04.26 - Deixar tudo em pratos limpos

Halloooo,

Hope all well! Work is pretty manic and we're also in the final stretch before moving, coordinating tradesmen, moving furniture around and generally painting walls and screwing things into sockets. We went to Indaiatuba midweek but had to cancel a photoshoot in Holambra due to bad weather, so hopefully that'll happen this week instead. 

Elsewhere, I made another compilation, and my phrase of the day - literally, "to leave everything on clean plates" - is a Brazilian version of "cross the T's and dot the I's".

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

Fred Money

07.04.26 - Sebo nas canelas

Halloooo,

Hope all well! We had a nice long Easter weekend, semi-competently assembling flatpack furniture in the apartment, in between a trip to Claudio's for a cod-based BBQ, and to Zila's to drop off a bunch of rubble and tiles in her garage. Throughout it all Amelie's getting larger, and a lot of time is spent making her and Gabi comfortable in such close proximity to one another! 

I've also made another compilation, and my phrase of the day means "tallow on the shins", and is an old-timey way of saying "get a move on" - apparently people would grease their shins in the old days to give themselves a speed advantage (?)

And that's about it - speak soon!

Something Very Fred Is Going to Happen

31.03.26 - Affogare in un bichier d'acqua

Hallooooo,

Hope all well. We've been ferrying stuff to and from the flat all week, including a fun few hours on Saturday when I made 12 separate trips carrying sofas of varying sizes (I counted) as we gave Zila's living room a makeover, as well as our own. Today we do a deep clean, and then we can move in properly after Easter weekend!

I've also made another compilation, and my phrase of the week comes from Italy, where apparently "affogare in un bichier d'acqua" ("to drown in a glass of water") means to give up in the face of the most minor difficulty. 

And that's about it for this week - speak soon!

Play Fred

24.03.26 - O mundo não gira, ele capota

Halloooo,

Hope all well. We've been sorting various stuff out this week as we prepare to move - installing cabinets, bribing movers, getting very involved in the stripping and varnishing of old furniture, etc. We also made a mean shredded beef risotto on Sunday. 

In other news, I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day translates as "the world doesn't turn, it flips over", and is the regional equivalent to "what goes around, comes around", applied whenever someone is faced with the consequences of their actions. 

And that's about it - speak soon!

Fred Fred Wine 

17.03.26 - Se eu gostasse de mimimi, eu comprava um gato gago

Halloooo,

Hope all well! We've been plugging away at work and misc. flat stuff, including heading en masse to Zila's on Saturday to DIY-restore an old chest of drawers of hers, which will eventually end up in Amelie's room. We'll be going back this weekend to finish the job! 

Then we went to the park on Sunday, checked out a nearby Korean place (inspired by Culinary Class Wars!) and watched the Oscars, which unfortunately was a wash for Brazil this time. And we're currently in Indaiatuba, which is where all the ultrasound guys are these days. 

In other new I've made another compilation, and my phrase of the week only really works in Portuguese, but here goes: "if I enjoyed the sound of complaining, I'd buy a stuttering cat" (crucial context: "mimimi" is an onomatopoeia for people complaining, and also sounds a bit like a stuttering cat, I guess?)

And that's about it - speak soon!

Freddy Supreme

10.03.26 - Pego de calça curta

Halloooo,

Hope all well. We are back from a lovely long weekend in Rio - my first time there, and Zila's first time back in 70 years (!).

After a scenic taxi into Santos Dumont airport we went to our fancy Airbnb in Barra da Tijuca, then set out the next day into the centre of town, covering plenty of ground including Leblon, Copacabana fortress and the cable cars up to Pão de Açucar, where we were briefly stranded in a lightning storm. 

On Sunday we hit the beach, before taking in Parque Lage and the nearby lake, and heading back on Monday as the rain set in. A full write-up will be coming to Substack in due time, but suffice to say we had a great time and are a bit sad to be back to work in grey, flat São Paulo.

In other news, I've made another compilation, and my phrase of the day means "caught with short trousers" (roughly equivalent to "caught with one's trousers down"). And that's about it - speak soon!

Cristo Fred-entor

03.03.26 - Nem que a vaca tussa

Halloooo,

Hope all well. 

Work continues apace in the bright new post-Carnaval dawn, and we even got the figurative "band" (the pre-pandemic Wednesday night football crew) back together - we didn't play any football but we did go to the Gaucho bar to discuss playing football at some point. 

We also went to Indaiatuba over the weekend to brainstorm our next furniture-restoring venture, and I went to the cinema on Sunday night to finally see "The Secret Agent", which is well worth its Oscar hype. 

In other news I made another compilation, and my phrase of the day is "not even if the cow coughs", which means "it ain't gonna happen", basically. And that's all... I think it's been a pretty slow news week otherwise, right?

Speak soon!

Fredbird