25.05.21 - Quem é ele na fila do pão?

Halloooo,

Hope all well in Erli and beyond. Over here we're slowly but surely gearing up to jumping ship and skipping town in early June, with all the attendant bureaucracy and life admin that entails (vaccinating panicking cats against the outside world, for one), while work continues at a steady clip. I can't wait personally, if only to escape the constant drilling going on in the collapsing gym next door.

Not much else going on apart from that, but I have made another compilation, and my phrase of the day is the local equivalent of "who is [x] when they're at home?", except here it's "who is [x] when they're in the queue for bread?" I quite like the imagery, very Eastern Bloc.

Anyway, let's catch up soon!

Below the Fredline

18.05.21 - Quem não arrisca não petisca

Halloooo,

Hope all well and there is light at the end of the lockdown tunnel, etc. Over here we've just signed the contract for our new three-bedroom bastard house in the country and are making plans to move at the end of the month, which is rather exciting. 

A bit daunting too, given the distances and expenses involved, but as they say here, "quem não arrisca não petisca", i.e. "nothing ventured nothing gained", or to translate literally: "he who doesn't take a risk doesn't snack" (it's one of those sayings which probably only caught on because it rhymes).

Elsewhere I have made another mixtape, and am greatly enjoying my birthday present, "The [Prince & the Pauper & the] Porpoise". We had both sets of grandparents round on Sunday for a slap-up meal, and are otherwise engaged in the minutiae of moving house which should keep us busy for a while yet.

Speak soon!

Back to Fredlam

11.05.21 - Indaiatuba

Halloooo,

Hope all well. We may have finally bloody cracked the case of the missing house, following a trip to Indaiatuba - fun to visit, and to say, as it turns out - to see a few neighbourhoods, check out the centre of town and have a nice lunch, before heading to Itatiba to see another possibility. 

We saw two houses that we really liked, which are both a little outside our budget but would be much better than living in another São Paulo shoebox, and we're in the process of sealing the deal, so fingers crossed!

In other news we assembled the grandparents on Sunday for Brazilian Mother's Day, which was rather lovely and involved lots of food; I made another mixtape; and my word of the day is, well, "Indaiatuba", which I have just learnt is old Tupi-Guarani for "an abundance of palm trees" ("Ubatuba" is "an abundance of canoes", and Itatiba is "a lot of rocks", FYI)

Watch this space! Speak soon,

Fred

04.05.21 - Lagarta-de-fogo

Halloooo,

Hope all good witchu! As you know I turned 34 on Thursday in fairly understated fashion, with a full day's work followed by wine, cake and esfihas (not in that order), and also got not one but three separate gifts from work, including iFood vouchers and a fancy pillow, which is laying it on a bit thick if you ask me.

We've been turning up the heat on the old house-hunting lark, and saw a few stopgap options which were actually not terrible last week and yesterday afternoon, which gives me hope. We're also toying with moving out of town for the space, and to save money, so will probably go and visit places like Indaiatuba and Atibaia at the weekend.

Elsewhere I've made another compilation, and my phrase of the day goes out to all the hairy caterpillars we saw on our long-delayed return to the Horto Florestal on Sunday (the last time we went was with you!). Their gimmick is to fall out of trees and burn you with their acid-tipped hair, hence the nickname "lagarta-de-fogo" or "fire caterpillar" - one of many fun names for them, apparently. The ones we saw looked peaceful enough though, getting ready to turn into moths, etc.

That's all for now, speak soon!

May the Fredth be With You

27.04.21 - Olho de sogra

Hallooooo,

I trust all is well by the Med! 

We're back from a long weekend in Ilhabela, where we managed to escape the City of Building Work, relax a bit and jump in the sea in between visiting the few remaining houses still available to rent, now that the whole of São Paulo has had the same idea as us. They were OK, but on reflection we'll probably stay in SP for now (if we can find somewhere!) and save up to buy (and possibly build) our own place there - evenshually.

Otherwise it's business as usual - I've made another mixtape, and my phrase of the day is the name of a kind of sweet, made of sugar dough wrapped in a prune or date. It's called a "mother-in-law's eye" - the eye part because it looks a bit like an eye, and the rest is a mystery to me. I've also been enjoying this guy narrating his trips through London via dashcam - strangely relaxing!

Speak soon!

Ethelred the Un-Freddy

20.04.21 - Tirar água do joelho

Hallloooooo,

How are we all this week? The round-the-clock drilling is starting to get to us here, so we've booked a trip to Ilhabela tomorrow to get away from it all and check out some places for rent while we're there. So that'll be nice. 

On that note we went up into the mountains at the weekend to see what was on offer, but the houses we visited were too remote, and too reminiscent of a woodland cult, respectively.

Otherwise I've made compilation #300, and my phrase of the week ("to drain the knee") is a euphemism for urinating, whose origins are clouded in mystery. May it serve you well in the years to come. 

Speak soon!

Fredioactive

13.04.21 - Viajar na maionese

Halloooo,

Hope all well and you've had yer jabs, etc. Looks like we'll be the absolute last country out of lockdown at this rate, but it could be worse, etc. We've been remotely house-hunting and may be off to Ilhabela next week to visit some places in person - watch this space.

A little bit of drama as well: we spent the weekend by the pool, making the most of the tail-end of summer, and had just left when the gym being built next door basically collapsed - the beam holding up the second story buckled and the entire floor fell down. Luckily it was Sunday, i.e. the one day when it's not crawling with people, but we soon had a swarm of firefighters and surveyors picking over the rubble. Pretty scary stuff, but more importantly we're not sure whether this = less noise for a while, or = much more noise for much longer than expected. 

I've made another mixtape, and my phrase of the day ("to travel in mayonnaise") is applied to people who are either talking a load of rubbish, or aren't paying attention to the matter at hand, which I thought was quite evocative. By the way, not that it makes the saying any more coherent, but over here "maionese" is not only a condiment but also a whole dish (albeit one made mostly of, well, mayonnaise). 

And that's a wrap!

The Duke of Fredinburgh (RIP)