Madeira News Blog

TODAYS PHOTO : Thanks to Alan … I’m guessing that’s in Paul da Serra, probably the longest straight bit of road on the island.

Source : Diário de Notícias 23/4/2008

One of today’s lead stories is about an 87 year old man living alone in São António who was paid a visit by 2 women claiming to be from the social security and saying he was entitled to a bigger pension. They asked him if he would like a cup of tea, which one of the ladies went off to make. Whilst they were talking about his pension, the elderly gentleman drank his tea and promptly passed out due to drugs put in his tea. When he awoke, he checked his wallet to find €250 missing, which was his only money to pay for food and bills, and clothing and other items were also stolen.

Another article talks about growing concern about “Bullyng” in schools. Ok they can’t spell it quite right, but it’s notable that they have had to adopt an English word to describe a phenomenon which presumably is a fairly recent concern here.

Since 1994, more than 600,000 trees have been planted up in the mountains of Paul da Serra, helping to increase the areas of natural forest in the region. Madeira now has 16,000 hectares of “natural” forest, as opposed to the 12,000 as recorded in 1972. School children have deliberately been involved in the work so they can learn about wildlife and professions relating to forestry.

Theorising about the origins of Madeira has been a preoccupation of many both on and off the island. In a project titled ‘Geological Cartography of the island of the Madeira’, developed in partnership with the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, it is stated that the ‘cabo girão’ (presumably the end of the island, not the place, as there are no capital letters) is not the remainder of a volcanic structure, and that volcanic activity here is not extinct, just sleeping. “Another fact is that the Arco’s of Calheta and of São Jorge would have been considered ‘caldeiras’* of half volcanic structures destroyed by the erosion of the sea, when in fact they are big landslides” said a specialist.  These are some of the resulting knowledge of fieldwork carried out by a team of six investigators, in the 20 years of existence of the University of the Madeira. 

*Caldeiras are formed in a number of ways. They usually form when huge amounts of magma are erupted out of sub-surface magma chambers. The removal of all this magma leaves a void below the surface and the top collapses in to form the caldeira. Subsequent eruptions usually fill them in partially so that the jumbled debris is buried”.

Confused … me too. Whilst learning my relatively poor grasp of Portuguese, geological terms were not high on my priority list, and as the technical words don’t even appear in dictionaries, then it’s all a bit of pot luck.

The Government of Madeira is to apply for a loan of €154 million in order to pay it’s suppliers and shorter term debts. The application will be made under a national programme aimed at encouraging organizations to pay their debts on time. Lets hope they are successful, as we wouldn’t want that €7 million ‘Whale Museum’ cancelled as a result of poor debt management … would we?

The CTT (mail company) has obtained 15 ‘all terrain’ quad bikes to facilitate the distribution of the post in the trickier’ parts of Madeira. Ten operate in Funchal, and the remaining five in the most distant localities elsewhere. I first spotted one in Rib. Bra. about a month ago and have seen it nearly every day since, and it certainly was not doing ‘all terrain duties’, just pottering around town with the post lady delivering mail to local shops.

The European Treaty of Lisbon was due to be ratified in the Portuguese Parliament yesterday … no big obstacles were foreseeable in the ratification process. Probably all a bit of a waste of time if the Irish people don’t accept it in the only referendum amongst the 27 member states.

Madeira’s favourite son got a black mark last night when he missed a crucial penalty in the champions league semi final. Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t miss often, but as a result the tie between Barcelona and Manchester United ended up as a goalless draw.

Can you help Lucas or Boris, a dog and cat looking for new homes? Please take a look :

http://www.madeira4u.com/m4u_RI/resources_i_zz_animal_news_madeira.html

This Saturday brings the madeira4u 200th blog so I am looking for ideas to do something special, but so far have drawn a blank … any ideas, please let me know.

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 : Thanks to Wil … Barracuda I believe, one of the around 550 species of fish that live around the Madeira Archipelago

Source : Diário de Notícias 22/4/2008

If you are planning a shopping trip this weekend and pop into the ‘Dolce Vita’ shopping centre in Funchal, you might be surprised to see the unusual sight of a troop of boy scouts camped out there. 24 youths aged between 12 and 16 will be marking the 95th anniversary of ‘Scouts on Madeira’ (today) and will be staying there from Friday until Sunday, in a fun filled extravaganza that includes erecting tents, games, and other events, and will involve the participation of shoppers. There are currently around 300 scouts on Madeira, but their presence is limited to Funchal, Machico, and Santa Cruz, due to lack of adult support elsewhere. The mind boggles … Go to Pingo and gut your own fish, slaughter a pig and BBQ it yourself, wiggling the woggle, abseil down the ‘Dolce Vita’,  Pay a ‘bob a job’ and have your shopping carried to your car, and what is ‘dib dib dib’ in Portuguese? (yes, I was actually a boy scout years ago … at the time I thought it might have been a good way to meet girls!)

Funchal Council is to equip the city with public ashtrays after the ‘invasion’ of cigarettes butts littering the streets since the introduction of the new smoking laws at the beginning of this year. When questioned about whether this measure already should have already been taken when the new law came into force, a spokesman Rubina Leal said said that it was “a question of citizenship” and that they had believed that new law would reduce the problems and not increase them. Yeah right, so you stop people smoking indoors, so they go outside … what are they going to do, stub out their cigarettes on their foreheads and put the smouldering butt ends in their pockets? I often see smokers sat outside cafes etc. with ashtrays right in front of them and they still chuck the butt ends into the street.

In the mega-drug trafficking trial that commenced in Funchal on Monday, its was revealed that a number of false driving licences were discovered during the operation, that had arrived from the United Kingdom. The authorities have said they will speak to the police here about the matter. I guess that might mean some extra scrutiny if you are stopped by the police and have a UK driving licence, but I would have though that for residents here that have obeyed the law and registered their driving licences here already, there shouldn’t be an issue. Many people here do not realise that you cannot legally drive a car here (except a hire car) unless your licence has been registered with the DGV. (More information on the website.)

The ‘low cost’ airline Transavia did it’s maiden voyage between Paris (Orly) and Madeira on Monday afternoon bringing 148 passengers, but taking only 17 back. Lets hope this ratio improves, or we will all be speaking French in 10 years time.

Two cruise passengers were injured in a ‘wicker basket’ accident, after their basket ‘crashed’ on the way down from Monte. One suffered light injuries, but an elderly American lady has more serious problems and as a result missed the departure of her cruise ship. The daily ‘wicker basket’ cartoon in the Diário every day makes light of the matter, blaming the incident on an “assault by Al-Qaeda” … ho ho!

In a rather long article about attracting tourism, some ‘expert’ has wisely decreed that Madeira should market itself as a ‘surf’ destination, bringing a new type of ‘long stay’ tourist. Great idea Mr., but it’s a bit late, as the government has already wrecked the surfing tourism potential with beaches of concrete … perhaps we could call it ‘Crash Helmet Surfing’.

President Jardim has found himself a couple of nice jollys for next month. He is off on two separate trips to meet the Madeiran emigrants living on Jersey and in London. Whilst is seems unlikely that things will grind to a halt here, it hardly seems a justifiable trip with taxpayers footing the bill. When Angela Merkel, Gordon Brown, and Nicolas Sarkozy etc. have scheduled this years visits to Madeira to meet their expats, I will publish the dates here.

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 : Thanks to Janice F

Source : Diário de Notícias 21/4/2008

Up in the mountains in Meia Serra a new facility is being created for tourism, leisure, and environmental awareness, costing €2.1 million, and suitable for people of all ages. The facility will include a ‘tourist train’, cycling facilities with bicycles provided, picnic areas, and a special facility for ‘radical sports’. It includes an old forest rangers house that will be a centre for environmental education. The track, which will carry the train will run though forested areas on a route of around 3.3 kilometres, is already nearing completion.

“Everything as before”. In the Diários main political story its asks what the the benefit was of the 6 day visit of the President of the Republic to Madeira last week … the answer “Quase nada” … almost nothing. Well I’ll bet the sun tanned Cavaco Silva (the president) didn’t think so … he’s probably back at home now telling his friends and family what a lovely holiday he had on Madeira, golf, island tours, top hotel and restaurants, trip to Port Santo … and it didn’t cost a centythingy. Boy it’s tough at the top!

Judging by yesterday’s and today’s newspapers, I’m afraid it looks like it’s not going to be a very newsworthy week.

I am very happy to report that after all the ducklings here in Rib. Bra. were killed during the storms, at the weekend the first new brood arrived with 6 little beauties. That was the first bonus, and that was followed a few hours later by an unscheduled ‘live musical performance’ in a local bar. Very enjoyable and lots of people joining in and singing old Madeiran folk songs, … now I don’t wish to appear rude and disrespect local traditions, but all the songs seem to have the same beat and very similar tunes … am I tone deaf, or is that a reflection of the limited musical instruments that were available in Madeira’s past?

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!