Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Helen … our first shot of one of the tall ships, here as part of the Funchal 500 celebrations.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 29/9/2008

With both local teams playing on Sunday, of course most the front page is football. Nacional blew their 100% winning record with a 2-1 home defeat to Amadora, whilst Marítimo got their first win of the season, 2-0 against Académica.

A young man was found dead in the Ribeira dos Socorridos (Câmara de Lobos). As well as recovering the body from the river bed, firemen found an abandoned car near to the bridge around 140 metres above.

The day before the official inauguration of the new yellow sandy beach at Machico, a flutter of excitement hit the beach goers, when a number of ‘Skates’ were spotted near to the west pontoon. Movement in the water caught the attention of a number of people near to the new sand, and through the not so clear water it was possible to distinguish the shapes of the creatures. Skates do not normally come in so close, and there is a slight danger of injury to the public if the animal panics. It is thought that the yellow sand made them more visible when they would normally go unnoticed against the natural sea bed colours.

‘Easyhotels arrive on Madeira – a modern, comfortable, and simple hotel will open in the center of Funchal.’ I guess it won’t be a huge shock that the Easygroup (owners of Easyjet), have decided to expand their interests in Madeira by announcing the opening of a hotel, probably in 2010. The hotel will have 60 rooms, and will charge around €30 per night, regardless of whether there are one or two occupants. A spokesman for the group believes it will serve people on short breaks (less than 4 days).

Other News :

A group of Spanish soldiers, here on manoeuvres, were spotted by police vandalising the ship ‘Santa Maria’ in Funchal, and stealing the Portuguese flag. The yobs were on their way out of a discotheque early on Sunday morning, when they decided to make the detour. The flag was returned by the commander of one of the ships after the incident was reported. The matter is considered very serious as an ‘offence to the national emblem’ and can result in imprisonment of up to 2 years. In a similar incident in February, a Spanish sailor was arrested after pinching the flag of Madeira from the Regional Assembly building.

The ‘Lobo Marinho’, or Porto Santo Ferry, was delayed 4 hours on Sunday due to a mechanical breakdown. 

A ’snatch and grab’ robbery took place in Pingo Doce in Ribeira Brava on Sunday afternoon, when a thief dipped into the cash till when the cashier briefly turned away to help a customer. €1,800 was taken, in what is believed to be the second hit on Pingo’s stores in a week, by some men known to be from Camacha. The two men inside the store even had a getaway driver parked outside.

Porto Santo makes finances a bit of a burden when it comes to council tax, with average bills of €613 in 2007, compared to the average for Portugal of €235. The rise was 67.1% on the previous year, and that puts it number 10 in the highest council tax league table for the whole of Portugal.

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Now, as promised, a bit of rare but relevant entertainment found on youtube. Put your sound on and click the 3 links. Probably not so good for those with a fear of flying :

1. A real plane landing at Madeira Airport … the pilots view, landing from a north-easterly direction

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld4RageIzg8&feature=related

2. A computer simulation landing from the south westerly end of Madeira Airport.

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=NFYdT5Fi0jc&feature=related

3. A real landing from the north-east again, but this is old footage in a turboprop plane, before the runway was extended. Watch right to the end if you dare.

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=kIuS4qx9WE4&feature=related

The 3 videos last about 12 minutes in total. Thanks to Ado for sending them.

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The ‘contact us’ form and the excursion and car hire booking forms on the main website have developed a fault which I only found out about yesterday. Nothing is coming through to me. If you have to send anything or have made a booking, or wish to, please email me. Very sorry for the inconvenience, I am trying to fix it asap.

www.madeira4u.com

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 : Thanks to Tobi … one of the Spanish warships skulking around the island on secret operations at the weekend.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 28/9/2008

Most the front page is taken up with a photo of the football match Saturday night, in which Benfica beat Sporting 2-0 … that result keeps our very own Nacional at the top of the league, for the 5th consecutive week. Força rapazes!

Celebrating a 25th anniversary in primary teaching, the Diário spoke to teachers about what has changed in school since 1983, for better or worse. In 1983 the hardest problem was getting to school due to poor roads and transport, that has completely changed for the better. Now the students are less “stable” and have less respect for their teachers, and the school has to take far more responsibility than it used to, particularly as often both parents work these days. “The students always want more and the teachers nowadays have a certain difficulty in dealing with them” said one teacher. Teachers in 1983 worked as a team, but now there is competition between them. All those interviewed all said that they had no regrets in their chosen profession, and one said if they could go back in time they would still choose the same job.

Cardiovascular disease on the up for younger victims’. On ‘The World Day of the Heart’ the watchword continues it be ‘Prevention’. In the last couple of decades heart attacks here were in the realm of the more elderly, but now the tendency has already reversed. It used to be that the women were much less affected than men, and that is also changing. Funchal Hospital recently treated an 18 year old youth who suffered a heart attack. The director of the Service of Cardiology there said “We are now a developed country and the  development increases some risks in cardiovascular terms. Persons begin to eat worse, are busier and begin to do less exercise, obesity increases and people continue to smoke, and it seems like that more and more, for the women specially.”. 

Both those stories just really prove the point that technology and cultural development etc. whilst making life much more comfortable for the majority, do also deliver some major problems for society. This once quiet beautiful little island has changed beyond recognition in such little time, sometimes with good things, other times not. Globalization has certainly hit Madeira big time!

If you missed yesterday’s blog, please go back and take a look.

Other News :

From Wednesday flu vaccines (vacinas contra a gripe) will be available through chemists, at a price and with a doctors prescription. ‘At risk’ groups get theirs free, with 27,500 doses sent here just for that purpose. In 2007 the region received 7,000 ‘doses’ of the treatment to sell, but demand was low so many were returned to the suppliers, and as a result this winter less supplies will be sent to the chemists in the region.

Whether you are Portuguese, English, or another eligible nationality, getting access to America (USA)  without a whole lot of hassle and waiting has just become a whole lot easier. You can actually apply and get your entry authorisation (visa waiver) online at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ If all goes well, once the online form is completed, your authorisation should take just seconds.

The Câmara (council) of Santa Cruz owes €10.7 million to it’s suppliers. It will have to apply for a bank loan to meet it’s obligations, but that may mean getting authorisation from a court.

Ribeira Brava Câmara has voted not to increase council tax (IMI) for its residents. Newer buildings will still be taxed at 0.35% (0.0035) of building valuation, and older and rustic buildings at 0.8% (0.008). The Câmara Municipal of São Vicente, has also agreed to freeze it’s IMI taxes at 0.3% and 0.6%. As a Rib. Bra resident I suppose I should be happy, but as I am still in my 10 year council tax exemption period, I am ever happier.

Saturday was supposed to be a fuel protest day across Portugal and including Madeira, when drivers left their cars at home and certainly not to go to a petrol station and fill up. The Diário did a quick look around Funchal to see if anything was noticeable, but concluded it was a pretty normal quiet Saturday. The organisers say that the campaign had a big following, the petrol stations and fuel suppliers said ‘what boycott?’. (OK, I made that last bit up, but that was the gist of it).

The company Zon, formerly known as CaboTV will announce today that it is going to enter into the mobile phone market, making it the fifth operator available to the Portuguese public. However in reality, although ZON will be the face and body of it’s new product, somewhere behind the scenes will be those fine people from Vodafone pressing the buttons. The new prefix will be 929 (hence the announcement on the 29th of September). No surprise for most of us then, as PT (Portugal Telephone) is eating away at Zon’s TV client base. Zon have just given me the home phone absolutely free with unlimited free land-line calls for 12 months, so I will be licking my lips in anticipation of that trendy new mobile, or maybe just a SIM card,  dropping into my mailbox.

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The ‘contact us’ form and the excursion and car hire booking forms on the main website have developed a fault which I only found out about yesterday. Nothing is coming through to me. If you have send anything or made a booking please email me. Very sorry for the inconvenience, I am trying to fix it asap.

www.madeira4u.com

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 : Thanks to yesterdays Diário de Notícias … This is Conceição Estudante, the Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport (on and to Madeira), the focus of today’s blog.

source : Diário de Notícias 27/9/2008

Inspection is going to act to guarantee quality. Conceição Estudante has weighed up the results of the last year and is satisfied.  She is going to fight to improve the quality of tourism, and to better the remuneration of those who work in the tourism sector.

The regional secretary for Tourism and Transport, said in an interview given to the Diário, that from next month she will be launching inspections and supervisory activities to verify and guarantee the standards of quality in the tourism market. 

The initiative will be a joint operation between the regional directorates of Transports and Tourism to standardise some characteristics in the area of tourist transportation, to ensure that properly qualified people are being utilised, and that the quality in the delivery of the services is the key target. She believes that “when some companies utilize people that are not adequately prepared they run the risk of delivering incorrect information, not by bad intention, but because those persons are not qualified to give the correct information. There is not a lack of labour in the market, and we should think that the professionals should have, more and more, and better qualifications, more than in previous years when poor training proved to be a liability. For that to happen it is also necessary to change the rewards for employees in the tourism sector”.

“There is a value chain that should be rethought, that adequately balances the service that the tourism companies provide, particularly the standard of quality, and what the customer pays. We should qualify the service, and that has costs. In providing the necessary qualified and prepared personnel for the delivery of information, means that the revenues go up according to the quality of the product”. 

During the interview she also commented on several other areas:

Summarising on the events of this last year Conceição Estudante says:  “It was a year of experience with a new reality, a very intense year.  Looking back I see that what has happened has had a good return.  There are needs in the area of transport and in the area of tourism, the results have started to be favorable and positive, an indication that the work and the developing strategy were well demonstrated”. 

She considers that “all the expectation that was placed on air travel, through the introduction of new companies in the region has been achieved extremely favorably and the arrival of EasyJet from the United Kingdom, can consider itself a gamble that paid off very well. The numbers hit percentages of growth never achieved in the past”.  Regarding the liberalization of the route between Madeira and Portugal, she believes that the situation is consolidating itself, especially in the prices charged by the regular companies, feeling that in the future there will be a yet bigger scenario with the entrance of other airlines, some already announced, others on the way to formalizing an entrance.  She concludes from the progress so far “we are going to anticipate a second year that will be the consolidation of the delivery of the expectations that the first year achieved”. 

Another important question for the regional secretary concerned the privatization of the airports.  “It was announced about the privatization of ANA, the company that manages the airports and infrastructures on Madeira (ANAM), Portugal, and on the Azores, and that should be completed next year”.  On the eventual appearance of private companies interested in the management of the airports, she says “The airport of Madeira is the entrance of the Region, and, by that, the strategic interest must be safeguarded”.  The preferred option is a public-private partnership to guarantee and safeguard the strategic and public interests of Madeira, controlled with regulation, and allowing the government to intervene in the operation in defined circumstances. 

I have done my best to translate the interview accurately, and I am certain I have got the gist correct, but in the detail my interpretation could vary slightly from the quotes made. This is a shortened version of the complete interview.

Anyway the reason for focusing on this today, is that if they are going to do a quality audit/inspection of transport and tourism, how do they know where to focus? Have they actually asked anyone for opinions on what the problems are? It certainly doesn’t say so. What CE talks about mainly is that the guides and support staff are well trained to give the correct information, well who cares if Pico Ruivo loses a few metres as you drive by in a minibus, but I might care if that minibus runs over a stray dog that should be in care, and I know that is a regular source of complaint. 

As most of the blog readers are either tourists, or are seen as tourists who live here, don’t you think we would be giving Conceição Estudante a helping hand by telling here what problems foreigners really experience here, at such an opportune moment … such as those issues that often get coverage through the blog or the readers comments. I may not care if Pico Ruivo is ten metres shorter than the official height, but I do care if the taxi driver who tells me stitches me up for an extra €10 at the end of the trip. The long term impacts are that someone might not come here again, and they tell a friend, who tells a friend and so on. 

Anyway, here are the contact details for Conceição Estudante, all legally obtained and in the public domain. I believe she is a well balanced and hardworking politician, and puts her job before her politics, and will listen. Go on, send her an email, you know you ought to. By all means make if feedback rather than a whinge if that is more appealing to you. Also please tell anyone else you know who might have had an experience(s) that they didn’t like about this, and try and get them to write in also. You can also phone, as she does speak English as does her secretary.

Av. Arriaga, 18

9004-519 Funchal

Telephone : (00351) 291 211 900

Fax : (00351) 291 231 569

Email: srtt@gov-madeira.pt

Back to a normal blog tomorrow.

www.madeira4u.com

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 : Thanks to Brian & Laura … a lovely shot at Boca de Encumeada.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 26/9/2008

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that there were casting sessions on Madeira for a new ‘novela’ or soap opera called ‘Despertar’ (‘Wake’, or ‘Arouse’) on TVI, or channel 4. The programme is to be set in Madeira, and filming is due to start in just a few days. Two Madeirans have been given parts in the programme, Élvio Camacho aged 33, and Teresa Gedge aged 67, so that will pretty much double Madeira’s celebrity ‘A’ list. In case you see any filming going on, you should be able to identify who is who, as he has the role of a priest called João, and she a nun called Rita. Teresa formed formed  MADS (Madeira Amateur Dramatic Society) in 1993, where she is the president, and also performs. Unfortunately I did not get the call I was hoping for, as there was no part for balding middle aged foreigners, so looks like you are stuck with my blog for a while longer. What does surprise me is that TVI has room for any more soap operas. Some nights they seem to start at around 6pm, and apart from the evening news run through the night.

The inspectorate that covers homes for old people reveals that 25% of them do not have in-house doctors, meaning that sick patients have to be taken to the nearest health centre. The thorough inspection of Madeira’s 22 homes covered medical and sanitary aid, food, vigilance, free time and activities, security, and quality of the infrastructure. The full report is due to be made public yesterday.

A 38 year old man has been arrested by police after being caught committing fraud using ‘black dollars’. The scam involved convincing people to exchange currency at a very favourable rate, only to find the notes they received in return were worthless. An expulsion order was granted to rid Madeira of the rogue.

The other headline stories were about President Jardim receiving an award on behalf of Marítimo football club, and that the government wants to alter the plans for their new stadium. And a long story about the fact that the Palácio da Justiça has to pay rent of €12,800 per month to Funchal Câmara (council).

Other News :

A review of mortgage lending rates on a system called ‘Eurobor’ means that many homes are going to be hit with higher payments next month, on average an extra €50.

An unusual number of warships are skulking around the island and in Funchal bay at present, but they are not Portuguese. The 10 vessels are Spanish, and include an aircraft carrier. The details are classified, other than to say that they are on ‘manoeuvres’, which will last through the weekend. And I thought the Spanish Armada was sunk years ago … I bet the 2,000+ tourists on the British cruise ship ‘Oceana’ yesterday were wondering what was going on.

Both Marítimo and Nacional play at home this weekend, to Académica and Amadora respectively. Both matches will be played at the same time, 4pm on Sunday. It is no surprise for me that neither match is televised, even though there are no other games at the same time. You can be top of the Portuguese league for a month (Nacional), but unless your name is Benfica, Porto, or Sporting you don’t get on TV. Top billing is tonight at 8.45pm when Benfica host Sporting … that’s on SportTV1.

Have a good weekend!

www.madeira4u.com

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 : Thanks to Eiryl … the Proteus flower

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 25/9/2008

A €25,000 Audi A3 car was destroyed by fire in sítio do Covão, Estreito de Câmara de Lobos yesterday. Just a shell remains, and arson is suspected. The car was owned by a local priest who had owned the car for just two months, who claims to have had an SMS text message threatening his car. Strange case … a priest with a €25 grand car, a suspected arsonist who has the priest’s mobile phone number … I think we are missing the full story here.

The new (or rebuilt) Marítimo football stadium is to have an auditorium, a vintage car museum, and a trophy room. It will accommodate 9,000 supporters, which will not be of much use when the biggest game for years (against Valencia last week) only attracted 3,000 supporters. The inspiration for the new stadium design has come from England, no not Chelsea or Manchester United, but a lesser known club called Derby County, currently floundering near the bottom of the second league! I am guessing that the trophy room will built inside the cupboard previously occupied by the electricity meter, or is that being too unkind?

Today the government exerts it’s influence once more on the prices of petrol and diesel. Hardly worth having this time as petrol will go down just 0.3 cêntimos, and diesel 1.3 cêntimos. That brings the maximum petrol price down to €1.372, just slightly less than in Portugal. That reminds me, I have a leaflet from BPI bank saying that if you use their credit card ‘Universo’ to buy petrol or whatever at a Galp petrol station you will get a 2.5% discount on the cost (it is in reality a rebate that you will receive later on).

The people of Funchal are big water users, with an average consumption of 233 cubic metres each per year. That figure compares badly with Lisbon for example where the consumption averages 123 cubic metres per person per year, and in a list of 106 similar sized European cities puts Funchal in 7th position. The city of Braga in Portugal has the lowest consumption in the study, and the article states that a years supply for a person in Funchal would last there 4 years and several months. I reckon my household consumes at most 20% per year of what you people in Funchal use each, either that or my water meter is faulty. I reckon the 233 figure must be wrong, otherwise what on earth are you doing with all this water?

Other News :

Good news for residents using the ferry boat to Portimão. The Secretary of State for Transport in Lisbon has accepted the proposal to apply the same subsidy (for residents and students) of €30 each way, that currently applies to flights between Madeira and Portugal. Don’t hold your breath waiting though, as the proposal has to come back to the regional assembly here, go to Brussels, and then back and forth between Lisbon and Madeira before becoming effective.

The Regional Directorate for Statistics for Madeira (DRE) has launched a new website at : http://estatistica.gov-madeira.pt

I have just gone for a quick look, and it’s quite good if you know some Portuguese. It cover unemployment, population, inflation, hotel occupancy, construction licences, and numerous other topics.

WORLD TOURISM DAY – tomorrow

These events are mostly free for tourists, so if you live here you may need to dress like a tourist to benefit:

Botanical gardens – Free entry, also Boa Vista, & Orchid

Madeira story centre – 50% discount on tickets

Most museums – Free entry (email me if you want to check which ones, or look at the Madeira tourism website).

10.00 – 12.30am Folk dancing group on Avenida Arriaga, Funchal

2pm – 5pm Street entertainment on Avenida Arriaga

9.00am – 8.30pm Folk dancing group at Madeira Airport (with a break for lunch)

6pm Quartet concert at the Palace São Lourenço

There are other activities, but they are by booking only.

Please let me know if you know of anything else – thanks.

Tobi tells me that the tall ships will be here (Funchal) next Tuesday and Wednesday, and they will be open to visitors to board. This is part of the Funchal 500 celebrations. Thanks Tobi … this is what this blog is partly for, if you know anything that might interest or benefit readers please let us know. Whether is be a bargain at the supermarket, an event, an appeal, or whatever.

The situation with Machico beach (inauguration and opening) continues to confuse me, but according to yesterday’s newspaper the inauguration is set for President Jardim at midday on 29th (Monday).

One of our blog readers has kindly agreed to raise the problem about the rip-off for foreigners in the fruit market in Funchal. It could take some time, but by way of ‘evidence’ please keep any stories coming in.

www.madeira4u.com

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 : Thanks to Tobi … another shot of Machico, with it’s new look sea front.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 24/9/2008

This will shock a few people, but Funchal is above Porto in the ratio between population and violent deaths. Funchal achieves a ratio of 0.24 homicides and violent deaths per thousand inhabitants. This is the finding of a two year European study of 321 European cities. Funchal was also rated the worst Portuguese city for domestic violence, with 6 cases per thousand inhabitants. I feel I must balance that with a good result … Funchal ranked number 12 city on the list for hospital beds, with 16.8 per thousand inhabitants, but there again I am not sure that is good news.

The same study also looked at demographics, taking into account immigration. Funchal managed a population shrinkage during the years 1991 to 2004 of 0.53%, despite immigration mainly from Brazil, Eastern Europe, and the African countries that were once part of the Portuguese ‘empire’.

Marriage is only “between different sexes” says President Jardim, who considers the legalization of  homosexual marriage “a provocation to certain sectors of  Portuguese society”. Pres. AJJ adds “I do not have prejudices” as regards the sexual options of people. The subject is to be debated in the Madeira assembly on 10th October. Why they are bothering I don’t know, because where Jardim goes, the PSD-M goes, and that can mean only one thing … no!

Estreito de Câmara de Lobos is to lose a huge stretch  of it’s finest grape growing terrain under an expropriation order (compulsory purchase), due to road construction between Câmara de Lobos and Jardim da Serra. The high quality grapes that will be lost yield sufficient alcoholic content to be used for the real ‘Madeira Wine’. Some farmers will lose all of their land, others will lose part. As an example, one farmer is losing 9,000 out of 12,000 square metres. Not much use if that is your living!

The monopoly electricity supplier here, Electricidade da Madeira, is to renew some of its generators, as they will be 30 years old next year. Electricity consumption here increases by 20% a year, making expansion and improvements an ongoing necessity. in 2011 a new plant will be operational in Ribeira dos Socorridos using imported natural gas to reduce dependency on oil.

Other News :

Those responsible for the ‘Natural Park of Madeira’ are  preparing an Atlas of Birds Identified(?) on the Archipelago. It will be the first book produced on the subject, using a team of professionals with experience on similar projects. The fieldwork for the project will start next February. I don’t think anyone is absolutely sure, but there are between 30 and 40 bird types to be found here, including the nocturnal Zino’s Petrel which is very rare and unique to Madeira, with an estimate of just 400 birds remaining.

Santa Quitéria, in Funchal, is the place, the date is 23rd October. A new 2,000 square metres store costing €6 million opens for the company IZI. Specializing in DIY (do-it-yourself), decorating and gardening, it will employ 30 staff, and promises a “different concept”  in shopping with high levels of customer service, low prices, a huge range of products, credit services, home delivery, 100 free parking spaces, and a complete fitting service where required.

www.madeira4u.com

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 : Thanks to Dave … “The Belladonna Lillies alongside the Levada Nova above Arco da Calheta were a sight to behold today (Tuesday). Forest glades full of beautiful colourful flowers. If any of the readers wish to see them, they are only a couple of hundred metres from the road at the Loreto end of the footpath.”

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 23/9/2008

The political party PS-M (socialists), the main opposition party, has been told by it’s president that there will be no vacations in 2009. Three elections during the year mean there is just to much work to be done, and he laments the fact that his party just does not have the resources of the PSD-M (Social Democrats). Oh dear, already I can feel another ‘dry’ news day ahead!

A new school was inaugurated yesterday in Câmara de Lobos replacing its prefabricated predecessor. It has 11 classrooms on 3 floors, and is for 1st cycle infants. The building is equipped to run on solar energy. Like other schools on Madeira, parents are upset about new rules for school transport that only allow students that live more than 2 kilometres away a free ride to and from school.

The programme for sale of state own lands and building to raise funds for the government, is not going well, and is affecting the state budget. After two years that raised €250 million, the current receipts guarantee just one million Euros (didn’t make much sense to me either).

Other news :

A couple of emigrant Madeiran’s who returned here from Belgium for holidays found their home had been expropriated (compulsory purchased) by the government, without any contact or negotiation. The move was necessary to allow the building of the new via Rápida Machico – Caniçal. It turns out that the authority responsible sent the notification to the wrong person. Whoops!

The number of accidents on the via rápida (Ribeira Brava to Caniçal) were double the average, with 25 reported in the week up until Sunday. Luckily only two people were injured, one of them seriously. During the same period 75 breakdowns were reported, and 14 animals and 27 objects of ‘risky’ dimension were removed. The torrential rain was blamed for the increase in accidents. No I don’t quite agree with that, the torrential rain made driving more hazardous, but in the main it is people who don’t make allowances for the conditions that are responsible.

Thanks to all for the new photos sent in yesterday, they will all appear during the next few weeks.

I saw the front page of the government owned Journal yesterday, and it said that Machico beach would open next month, whereas I thought (and mentioned) that it had already opened. Can anyone pop their head out of a window for me and take a look please? (or is there a web-cam?)

It’s not Madeira I know, but a great story for mainland Portugal on the news last night, leading the world in wave generated electricity. The Portuguese government has ordered 25 ‘machines’ that look like massive red metal sausages, from a company in Scotland. They bend up and down in the waves and move hydraulic components that generate electricity. Each one will provide enough electricity for 500 homes. The only downside is that they will look a right mess. Add to that the massive solar farm in Moura (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/06/renewableenergy.alternative…) and you have a small country like Portugal leading the way in clean generation. Madeira would be so great for being self sufficient in power generation, and it’s such a shame that we burn so much oil here. We have wind, sun, water for hydro plants, and waves in abundance, but I guess the investment cost is just too prohibitive.

www.madeira4u.com

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!