The Human Bit, by Frank Peters It began with a sales email. Someone had apparently visited the Brida website and noticed the language services we offered. Only we don’t really offer language services. Not in the way the email imagined them. The message was personal enough to look personal, but not quite personal enough to…
Staring from the surface of the moon as the spaceship leaves without me. It was supposed to be a standard, productive Monday. We had just come off a lovely weekend—the kind filled with places to go, things to do, and people to see. I had my to-do list ready. The Mayor had his. We had…
HUSBAND: “You seem happier.” ME: “Thanks, I uploaded our whole argument into ChatGPT and it said I was right.” My husband is currently sitting on the couch watching rugby while I cook, clean, organise the house, and deal with everything that needs dealing with. And this man’s biggest responsibility today is apparently keeping the couch…
I have always believed there is a line between being interested in another person and entering a part of their life that does not belong to you. Then I started dancing, met new people and discovered that sometimes curiosity opens a door rather than crosses a boundary. By Ismar When I was a child, my…
It is a simple question, but if I’m being completely honest, I ask it of myself at least half a dozen times a day. Take WhatsApp, for instance. I will open a message, read it carefully, compose a brilliant, thoughtful response entirely in my head, and then walk away. In my mind, the job is…
At Fruitloop University’s magical supermarket, a dragon, an alien, a mermaid and a nervous garden gnome discover that the difficult part is rarely finding the answer. It is having the nerve to ask the question. There are supermarkets, and then there is the magical supermarket at Fruitloop University. Fruitloop University, incidentally, has now been shortened…
The mystery began with a button. It sat beside the lift, perfectly ordinary, slightly scratched, with a small red light in the middle. Nobody pressed it. People pressed the buttons above and below. Once, a child reached towards it and his mother quietly moved his hand away. There was no warning. No sign. Nothing to…
What happens when we stop trying to direct the traffic in our own minds and simply let an unexpected idea take the wheel? In this week’s issue, the journey begins at the editorial desk, where building, destruction, storytelling and bread somehow collide. Sometimes curiosity starts with a grand question; other times, with something small enough…
By Rosie, Brazil, Fruitloop, South Africa and The Mayor, France. Some questions make us stop and think. Others send us towards fortune tellers, forbidden soup and aliens building pyramids. At Lunch, apparently, both kinds are equally important. The conversation started, as Lunch conversations often do, somewhere between ordinary life and mild chaos. Rosii arrived tired…
Brida brings a small international group around a hosted table, in English, to talk about the life already happening around them. No lessons. No performance. Just room to speak, listen, and see where the conversation goes. For more information send a WhatsApp to Frank or Janita on +33 7 49 01 84 85 Welcome to…
