Tuesday, February 22, 2022

22.02.22 - Tiozão do churrasco

Halloooo,

Hope all well over there. 

We've just had a mad few days hosting Edson, Edimeia and Jessica who were down from Minas for the week, plus Gaby's parents and grandma, and eventually Bill, Patricia, Luiza, Gabriela, Claudio and Marta as well for an all-weekend barbeque extravaganza. All this as Berry learnt how to scale our neighbour's fence, which is a new existential threat that we'll have to deal with ASAP. It was A Lot, and now we're back to work and keeping tabs on the demolition job going on in São Paulo. 

My phrase of the day, then, is "tiozão do churrasco", or "big uncle of the barbeque", who bears the responsibility of providing enough meat for everyone throughout the day. Edson started out as the designated "tiozão" on Saturday, but the backseat cooks got in his head and he soon handed the mantle to Bill, which was quite funny to watch. Oh, and new compilation!

Speak soon,
Fred

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

15.02.22 - Fogo no parquinho

Halloooo,

Hope all well, and a very happy birthday to mother!

Over here all is going swimmingly - after a rather hectic week of work we went to São Paulo on Saturday to discuss the smashing up of Ridaut & Adny's apartment with the head engineer (said smashing up has now begun), then had a rare day off on Sunday including a mini-barbeque. Next weekend the Minas Gerais crew will be descending on the house so we've been planning accordingly. 

Elsewhere I've been dashing off musical parodies left, right and centre, as well as my usual compilation; and my phrase of the day ("fogo no parquinho", or "fire in the playground") means things are kicking off in a particularly confusing and belligerent way, but it also applies to manufactured online drama, etc. I quite like the imagery...

Anyway, that's all for now - speak soon!

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

08.02.22 - Você que sabe

Halloooo,

Hope all well! Plenty of work to get through here, as well as the usual hand-wringing about the future, endless rain, and trying to renovate and sell Ridaut & Adny's flat from afar. The good news is we seem to have finally tamed the cat and confined her to the back garden, thanks to a strategically-placed wire mesh, but who knows what her next move will be.

On Saturday we went to Atibaia for the wedding of a college friend of Gabi's (who I had previously met in Newmarket, near where they live - small world!), set in an old train station full of old-timey carriages. One of them still worked, and drove the bride about 20 metres along the track so she could walk down the aisle. As a train fanatic I was very impressed, plus it was nice to be in party mode again, at the first wedding we've been to since our own one in 2019.

The next day we were up early to head to São Paulo and Ibirapuera Park, where Gabi gave a short talk about mindfulness as part of a general health drive by her dentist friend - again, nice to see people in real life and in a real park, plus we got some free guided meditation, fruit salad and pot plants. We then met up with some other friends for a pizza and a stroll around fashionable Pinheiros, which has us pining for a move back to the big city - although let's see how long that lasts - before heading back.

I've also made another compilation, and my phrase of the day ("você que sabe", or "you know best") is usually used as a pithy abdication of responsibility, which I sense will be used a lot as the building work gets underway...

Speak soon!
What If Frod Was One Of Us

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

01.02.22 - Lambe corrimão

Hallooooo,

Hope all well with you! 

Over here we've had non-stop rain all week, as more parts of the country are completely underwater. As a result we cancelled our trip to São Paulo, as an event in Ibirapuera Park which Gaby was going to take part in was called off, and spent the weekend loafing around indoors instead (except for an hour-long tour through our neighbours gardens looking for Berry, although to be fair I did forget to shut the front door, so must share some of the blame).

In other news, I've made another mixtapes (nay, two mixtapes!) and my phrase of the day refers to people with scant regard for their own physical well-being as "handrail-lickers" - it recently cropped up in a pro-vaccine ad drive by UNICEF Brazil, which I thought was terrific. 

Speak soon,
The Matrix: Fredsurrections

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

25.01.22 - Mijo de égua

Hallooooo,

How's things across the Atlantic? Over here we are slowly getting baked alive by the Indaiatuba sun, to the extent that we've actually used the pool and garden which we spend hours a day maintaining, to cool down. Meanwhile Berry has become increasingly ungovernable, so we've had to spring for a steel mesh to reinforce our long-suffering fence (fingers crossed it works), and I've booked a rather odd side gig writing complimentary blog articles about Paraguay.

At the weekend, we went into São Paulo for Michelle's long-delayed graduation party, which was the first real party any of us had been to in years (my work do doesn't count). I was expecting a civilized affair with speeches and diplomas and throwing hats in the air, but it turns out graduation parties in Brazil are a huge deal and this was more like an all-night rave with finger food. 

For a start it was held at the Espaço das Américas, one of the biggest concert halls in town, crammed with thousands of people all dressed to the hilt. Almost as soon as the doors opened a Michael Jackson tribute band came onstage, and it only escalated from there - having availed ourselves of the free buffet and bar, we were treated to a raucous funk set from an MC who's apparently famous with the youth, and all the graduates waltzed with their parents and significant others, which is apparently A Thing as well.

That same night, Gaby's parents were invited to the fancy-dress birthday party of a big soap opera star, which sounded fun although unfortunately there is no record of it because phones were confiscated upon entry. We met up on Sunday to compare notes, then headed home to catch up on sleep.

And that just about brings us up to date. I've made another playlist should you be so inclined (RIP Mr. Loaf), and my phrase of the day translates as "mare's wee", and is used to deride particularly weak beer. I've never had cause to use it to be honest, but thought I'd leave it here for posterity. 

Hope all well, and speak soon!
There By The Grace of Frod

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

18.01.22 - Assobiar e chupar cana ao mesmo tempo

Hallooooo,

Hope all well! I ventured into the big city last week for the annual Sherlock get-together, worked in the new office for a few days, swanned around Vila Madalena and got to know a lot of people I hadn't met in person until now, which was a nice change of pace. I had to brush off my Spanish to chat with the Latin American contingent, and ended up giving an on-camera interview for an awards jury (which will probably end up on the cutting room floor, but still).

On Friday we had our belated "Christmas party" which was most fun and featured a short set by myself and a guy called Mauricio, who had rented out a full PA as well as a studio to rehearse in the night before. At which point Gaby showed up, also in town for some in-person sessions, and we headed back the next day having run some errands in town.

And on Sunday we went to a cool deck bar in Indaiatuba, which was BBQ-centric but also catered to our newfound veggie leanings, with a copious salad buffet and triple-lemon caipirinhas - a cool new find! No compilation this week due to my to-ings and fro-ings, but the phrase of the week - "to whistle and suck sugar cane at the same time" - is roughly equivalent to "have your cake and eat it too".

Speak soon!
Once, Twice, Three Times a Freddy

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

11.01.22 - Vai pentear macacos

Halloooo,

Hope all well and sorry I was late to the family Zoom the other day - barbecuing duty called! Not much to report this week amid all the rain and unseasonal cold, although we did drive over to Itu the other night to check out a Napolitan-style pizzeria which was rather yummy. And we're holding steady with veggie January so far!

Tomorrow I'm off to Vila Madalena for a few days to work from the Sherlock office, culminating in our staff party on Friday, where I've been roped into playing a short set with a  bassist colleague - we meet and rehearse on Thursday so let's see how that goes. 

I've made a new mixtape, and my delightful phrase of the week ("vai pentear macacos") means "go and comb some monkeys", i.e. "go away and do something else, I'm busy".

And on that note,
Speak soon!