Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : The ‘Manchester Morris Men’ made their debut at the São Pedro Festival in Ribeira Brava. Got a good appreciative crowd, and it was well publicised on local radio. I stayed long enough to take this photo, but I went in disguise for fear of getting recognised … gives a bad name to men this sort of thing.

Some more photos and captions added today at the bottom of the new webpage Sao Pedro Festa:

http://www.madeira4u.com/m4u_RI/resources_i_zz_sao_pedro_festa_2008_ribeira_b…

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 29/6/2008

President Jardim is in Venezuela visiting Madeiran emigrants. He has already visited London this year for the same reason. Nice Jolly if you can get it, but I can’t imagine the prime minister of my birth county coming to Madeira (except for a holiday of course).

The spokesman of the Regional Command of the PSP (Public Security Police) says that the owners of bars and nightclubs must trust more in the police, in reaction to increases in violent incidents both inside and outside these establishments. He refers to the levels of cooperation received when the PSP attend an incident and try and identify the culprit(s). In the last month there have been at least 4 serious cases of assaults, and the image of Madeira has been tarnished  as a relatively peaceful place for nightime activity. In one of the incidents referred to, a 29 year old footballer  was attacked with a glass in a toilet, and is now blind as a result. The 4 incidents are given as taking place in Funchal, Machico, Água de Pena, and Gaula. I just don’t recognise this side of Madeira … the worst I have ever seen in 5 years is a couple of drunks scuffling on ocassions, and owners of cafes and bars have been eager to call the police the moment trouble starts brewing. The police then normally attend within minutes, and tell the offenders to behave themselves  and go home.

Someone was asking a couple of days ago about the Madeira Classic Car Rally … it was won by a Madeiran, João Mota in a MGB of 1971.

A spiny plant called fusete, and also called Madeiran Berberis, that is endemic to Madeira and is found rarely at high altitudes has been found to have special properties in the treatment of skin cancer. It is being put forward as one the high hopes for the cure of malignant skin cancer or melanoma.  The study has been jointly undertaken by universities in Portugal and America, and a cancer research institute in Spain.

Other News :

The new Madeira based airline FlyMI hopes to have it’s operation up and running for tourist charter flights by the end of this summer, if negotiations to ‘lease’ a Boeing 737-800 are successful. Originally it announced it would start flying next new year, following the delivery of it’s own aircraft of the same type.

It’s ‘Madeira Day’ here tomorrow, a public holiday, so don’t forget that the buses run a different service.

The Bolo de Caco at São Pedro Festa this weekend was out in abundance, but again I saw it being made with just flour and water … no sweet potato. I am begining to wander if I have ever tried the real thing yet. Anyone know if Hiper Sã or Modelo make theirs with the proper recipie?

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!

TODAY’S PHOTO : São Pedro Festa in Ribeira Brava last night … espetada on the beach was never so popular (for more photos see below)

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 28/6/2008

Yet another weak news day, but I will struggle on.

The official inauguration of the ferry operation for the ‘Volcán of Tijarafe’ takes place in Portimão today, having already taken 3,000 bookings for passengers on return trips (Madeira / Portimão / Canary Islands). Despite support from Madeira and Portuguese governments, the issue of the €30 each way residents subsidy has still not been resolved in the hands of European bureaucrats, and this eventually could impact on the decision whether to operate the ferry service all year round.

Other News :

This year so far SPAD (Protective Society of  Domestic Animals) has taken in 1,528 stray animals, compared to 1,257 in the first half of 2007. SPAD is pretty fed up that it has to do all the work without the necessary human and financial resources, whilst the local councils do nothing, despite it being their role to deal with stray animals … “The current legislation dictates that the towns are the responsible for the idle and wandering animals”.  Even the regular funding for SPAD from Funchal Council has dried up, with no money received since February. SPAD has space for barely 350 dogs and cats but somehow, in the interests of animal welfare, it takes them all in, with the old and sick animals being put down where necessary to make more room.

A dreadful situation for SPAD to have to put animals down to make more space, and it must be pretty soul destroying to think that after the hundreds of free sterilizations they have done, and the massive campaigns they have taken to educate people and raise funds over the last 12 months, that the number of strays handed in is going up and not down. What can we do about it? We can help SPAD directly of course, but if you feel like going to your Câmara (council) office and complaining, here are the relevant laws (very roughly translated, so please don’t blame me if I got a bit wrong) :

Law n.º 315/2003, of 17 of December – article 2º paragraph Z – names town councils as a “Competent Authority” (ie takes responsibility for the following laws)

Law n.º 315 – article 19º nº1 – It falls to the town councils to collect and capture stray animals for reasons of public health, of security, and to preserve the peace for other persons and animals, and ensure the protection of property.

Law n.º 314 / 2003 of 17 of December – article 9º nº2: Compels the councils to undertake initiatives and actions to reduce the population of stray animals, in accordance with the Veterinary Director General.

Law n.º 314 – article 11º nº1:  “The town councils, of their own accord, or in association with others towns, are obliged to possess and maintain installations to be used as animal kennels”. 

Law n.º 314 – article 13º nº7:  It falls to the lawfully constituted societies (for animal control/management) to collaborate when it comes to be requested by the competent authorities. 

And I suspect it is probably this last law that cause the problems to be pushed back onto SPAD.

In a very long and detailed article there is a bit more about the new energy efficiency certificates that become compulsory for all buildings on Madeira, from 1st July. As from next week, anyone building new, or remodeling old properties will need to have the new certificate when requesting a licence for construction. The energy rating will be assessed between levels A (good) to G (bad), just like electrical appliances. The certificates for housing will be valid for 10 years. If the property being constructed has a good exposure to the sun, then solar panels will be obligatory for the supply of sanitary hot water. The ‘catch up’ exercise for all existing properties is not included in the article, but I will cover this when the information is published.

77% of the electricity produced in Madeira is consumed by buildings (air conditioning, lighting, electrical appliances, etc.). 

A turtle that lived in these waters 12 years ago and was tagged for monitoring purposes, was found in Canadian waters, 2,700 kilometres away.

São Pedro Festa / Saint Peter Festival, Ribeira Brava. The main night was last night and the town was packed. More events today, and it is likely that many of the stalls will stay on another day or two. I have done a special webpage of photographs … take a peek! The photos are not great due to a flat camera battery later on, so a mobile phone camera was used, but plenty of room for more photos if you have any.

http://www.madeira4u.com/m4u_RI/resources_i_zz_sao_pedro_festa_2008_ribeira_b…

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!

TODAY’S PHOTO : A proud and clever mum … got herself out of the river during the storms 2 months ago and went to raise her family in the safety to the municipal gardens in Ribeira Brava where she now has 8 youngsters. All the other chicks in the river perished in the storm.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 27/6/2008

The biggest part of the front page is a photo of Spain reaching the final of Euro 2008, where they play Germany on Sunday evening. The headline “Spain Ready To Avenge Portugal”. Somehow I don’t think the good people of Spain will be thinking that way, as from what I can work out there is no love lost between these two nations.

The body responsible for the vigilance and conservation of the nature reserves of Madeira Archipelago say that it is very understaffed, with only 34 guards or rangers covering the tasks, with at least double that number needed, but there is no money to do anything more.

At the end of a recent Festa in São António, the president of the council is alleged to have made a speech with the aim of inciting ‘collective disobedience’ in the crowd, as a result of some displeasure with the police. The matter has been reported to the ministry which deals with such matters.

Other News :

Of the 9,559 students registered to do the National Exams this month (phase 1), 2,440 have dropped out and maybe opted to go for phase 2 in July (it appears that these are normally held for retakes and grade improvements). The English Language exam registered the biggest percentage of absence, 55%.

An update on the increase in taxi fares announced yesterday, says that they will be implemented on 15th July, but they are capped at 5.5%. Currently the rate per kilometre is €0.99, but that is supplemented by an hourly rate of €0.42. The increase is a consequence of a rise in the price of fuel of 25% since the end of 2007.

Oh dear! Not a very newsworthy week for me.

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Tonight is the fourth and final firework and music display in the Atlantic Festival, Funchal. Portugal do the honours with ‘Saturday Night Fever’ as the theme. Any photos gratefully received, thank you, though I expect the festa of São Pedro in Ribeira Brava will be given priority.

My contact in Funchal ran into a couple of English tourists on Wednesday, carrying a couple of bags of fruit, and were making the observation that Madeira must be a very expensive place to live. They had just come back from the Farmers / Fruit Market in Funchal, having brought a kilo or so of 5 different fruits. No apples, oranges, or bananas, but even so with cherries at a record €6 a kilo, you wouldn’t have thought that would break the bank. They were charged an astonishing €50, yes FIFTY EUROS, by the seller in the market, and they paid it. And this same couple were also astonished to hear that you can buy a cup of coffee for less than €1, saying that so far they had always been charged €2.

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I might have a day off the blog tomorrow as it’s São Pedro … but if I do one it will be later in the day for sure, as this festa goes on all pretty much night.

Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!