A 'dry news day' … Madeira debts mounting, Easyjet new flight, and not much else
TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Pirex … Pico da Atalaia – Tendeira de Baixo
Front Page News : source Diário de Notícias 27/10/2008
No surprise that the biggest picture and lead story was football … Nacional winning their game on Sunday and returning to top slot in the Portuguese Superliga.
There are 17 major building projects on hold around Madeira, pending the conclusion of actions through the courts, nine of these in Santa Cruz. The main reason is non compliance with regulations (planning / building) or building or modification without authorisation.
By the end of this year, and according to the state budget, Madeira’s ‘state’ debts will hit €251 million. Madeira borrowed €256 million earlier this year through a state programme to pay it’s arrears to its suppliers.
Easyjet started its new Lisbon – Madeira service yesterday, with two daily flights (all days) priced from €52 return. They already have 23,000 reservations. If I am not mistaken it is almost exactly a year since the UK flights started as well?
Other News :
7 hunting dogs died after eating poison placed in Paul da Serra, near to a restaurant. The Forest Police were called, but found no trace of the poison or the culprit.
The car park of ‘Marina Shopping’ mall in Funchal has been highlighted as a hot spot for car break ins, drugs, and prostitution.
In national news, Taxis with television are the latest fad, with over 300 installed in taxis in Lisbon. LCD screens mounted on the seats allow passengers to see ‘TV Taxi’ with weather reports, what’s on at the cinema, reports about the location, cultural information, and of course advertising. Something to keep your eye off the meter perhaps?
Finally, Madeira’s own Cristiano Ronaldo has been named FifPro World Footballer of the Year, beating 54 other top players on the shortlist. The honour, voted for by professional footballers from all over the world, was widely expected after Ronaldo scored 42 goals for Manchester United last season. Ronaldo was also named in the FifPro team of the year.
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Talking during the weekend with a friend about the second attempt by President Jardim to get the smoking ban changed, I was interested to hear about the smoking ban which was recently introduced in Holland. The bars and cafes that are allowed to sell soft drugs for smoking are equally affected with the tobacco ban, and where one can still light up a ‘joint’ inside, you have to go outside to smoke a cigarette. Silly or what! However some people roll cigarettes with tobacco and sit inside pretending it’s a joint. To combat this, the authorities are making people use transparent cigarette papers, so the contents can be seen by staff to be green rather than brown. What a crazy world we live in.
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, topical photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!
there is a warning about rough seas today with waves of up to 5 meters, starting late afternoon, so forget your boat trip
1–Der
It's quiet on the blogfront.
2Have they all taken off using those cheap flights and left the island to the mozzies?
–martin
I don't know Martin, lets hope they are not all out at sea!
Nice bit of rain last night, but almost dry now with a superb rainbow across my valley. The big waves didn't come anywhere near me though.
3–Der
Yep raining here in Caniço, and Independence of the Seas is just passing, full to capacity i believe,lets hope they all enjoy the rain today..
Quite a few flights were affected yesterday at the airport with the wind and rain, i wouldnt have wanted to land here yesterday with that wind….
A cold spell in the UK brought widespread snow, with a few showers in central London, the first October snow since 1934.
Can hardly see the cruise ship now with the rain.
–Tobi
4I landed on Tuesday evening and it was really horrendous – cirled the island for an hour after a first aborted attempt where plane shot up in the air at the last minute. Finally landed just as fuel ran out and on limits of safety. Needed a large drink to recover.
5–Viv
I dont think i will be leaving this island for a while after reading that Viv, its my worst nightmare…..
6–Tobi