Madeira News Blog

TODAYS PHOTO :  An iconic painting found in Sé Cathedral in Funchal

Source : Diário de Notícias 31/3/2008

Blood donors are encouraged to go to the central hospital in Funchal to make regular donations, but in 2007 the amount of donors (and blood donated) diminished due to the lack of car parking facilities. Regular donors receive medals awarded at a free lunch when they achieve certain donation levels, and yesterday 186 generous individuals received their awards.

A busy day today for the cruise ships, with 5 ships in port bringing around 8,000 passengers. April is going to be exceptionally busy with 50 cruise ships scheduled to visit.

SATA, the airline based on the Azores, is considering the possibility of creating a subsidiary company to provide Madeira with it’s own airline. It also says that it is considering putting smaller and more frequent flights (40 seats) on the route between Madeira and Porto Santo, currently served by 60 seaters.

British tour operators are complaining that they have lost 30% of the Madeiran holiday market since Easyjet started its new flights to the island. To make matters worse, the charter flights and holidays due to start between London Gatwick and Porto Santo (189 seats every Monday) are just not selling well, because it is such an unknown destination.

www.madeira4u.com

Aside from your valued blog responses, please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – thank you!

TODAYS PHOTO :  There is a bit of chat about the Marina at Lugar de Baixo on the bulletin board at the moment, so I thought a reminder of the winter it got wrecked might be appropriate

I think we have skipped the rest of spring and gone straight to summer now, after soaking up some of those UV9 rays yesterday. Just timed nicely with the clock changes, so we can get those warm light summer evenings a little earlier than usual. All my flowers are pretty much in full bloom now, and as they were only planted from seed two months ago I am feeling pretty pleased with myself, apart from the lack of sleep due to fireworks starting at 6.30 this morning and every half hour since.

Pretty much nothing in the way of interesting news this weekend in the newspapers … no news is good news they say?.

One of the Diário’s reporters, Agostinho Silva, was invited to Manchester United’s game yesterday, seemingly by Cristiano Ronaldo himself, and this guy was just wetting himself with excitement. Most of the front page and a huge match write-up dominate the newspaper today, elevating CR to almost ‘god status’, after he scored himself and set-up the 3 other goals.

There was an article in last weeks newspaper entitled ‘Invasion Portuguese in World Football’ which made an interesting read. Apparently there are now 311 Portuguese players playing in 31 different foreign countries, with every single one listed in the article. 5 of them are from Madeira. Spain has the most with 40, followed by Cyprus with 39, Romania (30), Luxembourg (29), England (27), and Sweden and Greece (22 each).

I noticed in Pingo Doce yesterday that they now sell tickets for the Porto Santo Ferry, with leaflets on the checkout (no prices included) … smart move Mr. Porto-Santo-Line. The slogan on the leaflets reads ‘You´ll find that there’s too little time for so much’ … I don’t quite see it that way having been there twice, ‘cos if you can’t or don’t want to go on the beach there really is not a lot to do or see except relax. Well worth doing the island tour though.

I got my ten cheap energy efficient light bulbs this week from Electricity Madeira. I just brought the smallest ones because they are the most expensive to buy in the shops, however the screw in fittings are also smaller so they don’t actually fit any lights in the house.

www.madeira4u.com

Aside from your valued blog responses, please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – thank you!

TODAYS PHOTO :  A view of that rather pointless promenade at Jardim do Mar, it doesn’t do anything or go anywhere, or offer anything special other than an easy stroll … another PSD white elephant, but this one drove away the surfers.

Source : Diário de Notícias 28/3/2008

For those who didn’t already know, nearly all commercial establishments are obliged by law to have a complaints book, namely the ‘Livro de Reclamações’, one notable exception being taxi drivers. The obligatory use of this was expanded last year, and that is one of the reasons given for the notable increase in complaints in 2007 to 1,483 (1,046 in 2006). The licencing, hygiene and pricing were the source of most complaints, and two thirds were made in the ‘food, drink, and hotels’ sector. 52 cases went to tribunal, although many were settled privately and without the need for official intervention. As you would expect Funchal fared worst with c.35% of complaints, and Santa Cruz, Câmara do Lobos, and Machico followed with between 15% and 13% each.

More information on the ‘Livro de Reclamações’ on the m4u website. I used one once to complain about the toilets in a snack bar, and the authorities sent me a few months later a copy of a letter to the bar owner ordering the closure of the premises. I also asked a business owner in the course of conversation about his ‘Livro de Reclamações’ … he responded that if anyone so much as asked for it they would be thrown out! Note that refusal to give the book on request is itself an offence, and the police can be phoned to attend the complaint.

Ultra violet rays are forecast to be very high this weekend (level 9), especially between 11am and 3pm. I assume that means it’s going to be hot and sunny all weekend?

I have just been through today’s newspaper, and not a single story of any  interest, so I might be struggling for material for tomorrows blog

—————————————

I saw on the national news Tuesday night that Portugal is to lower it’s top rate of IVA (VAT) from 21% to 20%, and wondered how that would affect Madeira’s special IVA rates, currently set at 15% for the highest rate. The good news is that Madeira’s VAT rate should also decrease by 1%, with the hopes that a further 1% drop will come in the near future.

Great, so we save 1% on our purchasing power, and hopefully 2% in the near future, good (if not mindblowing) news for us all. However, underlying that is something possibly much more important. Madeira currently has the equal lowest IVA rates in Europe at 15%, along with Luxembourg. A 1% drop in IVA can be a huge amount for a company wishing to locate offices in a low tax environment, so the spin-off could be quite significant for Madeira’s economy.

Don’t forget : clocks change tonight – put forward one hour at 1am on Sunday morning, or better still wait until you wake up naturally.

www.madeira4u.com

Aside from your valued blog responses, please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – thank you!