Madeira News Blog

Last Sunday for me was my worst nightmare come true. A real health emergency, my own! … something I had often thought about, but dreaded having to face.

Without going into too many details about my own health, on Saturday morning I was doing someone a good turn, and felt something go in my back (the mind may boggle here, but please don’t let it!). I knew straight away that was my weekend was written off, but it happens, and a day or two of rest normally does the trick. I had a ticket to go and watch the the Nacional v Sporting game that afternoon, so that was my biggest disappointment.

Anyway, come Saturday night I was in agony. My leg was almost paralised, my back was on fire, and to get to the loo involved sliding along the floor. Needless to say sleep was hard to come by, and by 6am on Sunday morning I realised my options had run out. I slid around the house gathering some things and got dressed and made that dreaded 112 call at 7am. Neither the first or second telephone operator spoke any English, but I am sufficiently able now to cope with that in the local dialect. The fire brigade (ambulance driver) rang 5 minutes later for directions, and within 10 minutes of the first call they had arrived, bringing a wheelchair as requested. With just a five minute ride to the local health centre, it was all off to a good start … if you can call agony a good start! And I was the first and only patient … even better. A quick chat with the duty doctor and it was down with the pants and in with the needle. There must of been 10 staff, including cleaners, even at that time of the morning. They were all very amused by the fact that I chose to sit on the floor (for reasons of comfort), one person pointing out that floor was a dirty place to sit … perhaps a surprising comment as she was the hospital cleaner. Anyway, after waiting 40 minutes or so, the injection had had no effect, so I was whisked back into the ambulance and off to Funchal Central Hospital accident and emergency department (or the equivalent of). The ambulance drivers and staff at Ribeira Brava were excellent, and nothing but praise up until arriving at FCH.

You will probably remember from a week or so ago I reported about the new computerised patient management system in FCH was causing some problems, and combined with high flu levels, the hospital was struggling, with some low priority patients waiting all day to be seen. But I had no need to worry, as having been transferred to another wheelchair by the ambulance crew, I was wheeled around to ‘triage’ and was seen within 5 minutes by the triage nurse. I was given the white sticker which was stuck on my shirt, and then wheeled around to the Orthopaedics (the A & E equivalent) department and put in a waiting area alone. First in line I thought great … pain relief just a few minutes away. For those who don’t remember, ‘green stickers’ are for higher priority patients, but as it happens that day they had run out of green stickers, so everyone had white, and those with higher priority had their sticker swiped with a yellow highlighter pen. Now these stickers are supposed to prioritise patients and provide security control for the hospital, but they in fact did neither, and instead gave the wearer a false sense of expectation about their health problem rating and hospital security. I spent around 6 hours without any sticker at all after a nurse took mine off. As for patient prioritising, the stickers seemed pretty meaningless, as the A & E staff worked from a handwritten list of names, which was added to when someone new came along. So if for example you were sent to X-ray by the doctor, it seemed that you then went to the back of the queue for the follow-up consultation.

Anyway, my dream of being first in the queue was soon dashed, as hospital in-patients were wheeled into A & E on their beds and in wheelchairs, and it was about an hour and a half before it was eventually my turn. I was then taken to see the one and only duty doctor, who told me I would need to go to X-ray before going any further. I begged to have some medication to help with the pain before I went, and he obliged with a drip medicine which took over an hour to get into me, but unfortunately had no effect whatsoever, and just delayed my trip to X-ray. 

It was probably around midday when I went into X-ray, and that was very impressive with automated scanners flying around all over the room, but even so they were having trouble accommodating me as I was unable to leave my wheelchair and stand up straight. OK, up until this point I was still pretty impressed with how the day had gone so far, with lesser waits than I had expected, but still with expectations of being either admitted or sent home within a couple of hours, and maybe even getting a late lunch, as I had nothing so far that day. But that’s when it all started going wrong.

I was wheeled back from X-ray to A & E, to find a lot of new patients had arrived, and I was now at the back of the queue to be seen by the doctor. There were as many foreigners there as locals, mostly with twisted ankles and knocks from walking trips (or so it seemed judging by the big boots they were mostly wearing).

The doctor and his assistant were the only ones I came across all day who spoke any English. That was helpful as my sparse and broken Portuguese would have faired pretty badly in such important and technical conversations. Although the ambulance driver who later took me home also spoke English.

Digressing again for a moment, going to hospital for whatever reason is always a depressing affair, unless you work there, and one thing patients and visitors can take a little comfort in is the nurses, particularly and traditionally for men. I have to say that I was disappointed on this score to find that nurses, orderlies, and other staff were dressed in pastel green or blue, depending on status, and their uniforms of creased loose fitting jackets and trousers were very disappointing in the nurses uniform sense, and totally spoilt the one possible highlight of the day.  

Anyway, after a long wait I eventually got back to see the doctor again, probably around 3pm. He showed me my X-ray and gave a diagnosis, and then sent me off to sit under another painkilling drip which lasted an hour or more, and unfortunately that again had no effect whatsoever. So back in to the doctor again for an injection into the rear end, and this time it did start to work and some partial relief was very very welcome. When I told the doctors assistant, he said OK, now we just need to get you a prescription and we are finished. He had already explained that their objective was to relieve the immediate pain, decide on the medicine needed, and get me discharged. Admission to the hospital was not a consideration in any circumstances, even though I explained I had no care for me back at home. He told me that the injection I had been given would be effective for UP TO 8 hours, which was quite critical to me getting home after getting to a pharmacy, and going straight to bed. I figured that as long as the pain relief lasted the full 8 hours, I had until midnight at the latest to get into bed at home having taken my prescribed medicine. That was not to be the way it worked out however.

I remember at about 6.30pm sitting in my wheelchair looking at my watch and thinking I am so hungry. I had been on the go since 7am, and nothing to eat or drink all day so far, but I was thinking that was just the way it worked, and I would have to just grin and bear it. Of course, had I not been in a wheelchair, and afraid of missing my next slot, that somewhat limited my options to go and seek refreshment myself. I could have easily left over two hours earlier, I wa
s just waiting for that bit of paper I needed to take to the pharmacy. The place was pretty busy by now, and I tuned into a group conversation from some dissatisfied patients who thought they had been waiting too long and were unhappy with the prioritising system and people getting seen out of turn. My opportunity to chip in arose, and I proudly informed them that I had been there since 9am (at least 3 hours longer than anyone else still remaining) and had not even had a glass of water so far that day. Stunned silence and disbelieving expressions ensued, but it must of sunk in somewhere, because it must have been mentioned to a member of staff, as within half an hour I was presented with a bowl of lukewarm and pretty tasteless vegetable soup. Nether-the-less I devoured it in seconds, grateful for anything at that point.

At around 6pm the customary cackling old woman arrived, strapped to her trolley-bed. At first people found her amusing, as did I, as she cackled non stop at full volume. The nurses tried numerous times to get her to shut up, to no avail, and after a couple of hours subjected to that the general feeling of depression was increased for all. She was still in full flow when I left 5 hours after she came in. She, like other old people, were coming in accompanied by several relatives taking up the waiting area seats so the real patients couldn’t get a seat. It seems that taking granny to hospital is treated as a bit of a family day out.

Digressing again, Funchal Central Hospital is a bit of a tired looking place decor wise, but it was clean, spacious, reasonably maintained, and seemed to have everything it needed, for dealing with me at least.

My last ‘drip’ was completed at around 4pm, but at 7pm I still had the needle sticking out of my arm. I had to ask 3 times to have it removed before someone eventually came and did it. I had said to two staff members during the early afternoon that if I was going to be discharged then I would need assistance to get home, including the use of a wheelchair. It was made pretty clear early on that the objective was to discharge me once a way had been found to deal with the immediate pain, and that relief happened at around 4pm. The ambulance to take me home didn’t arrive to pick me up until nearly 11pm. There was one man who seemed to be in charge of organising this, and for sure he wasn’t using a computerised system, and whether cash passed hands to jump the queue I couldn’t say. But at one time in desperation I wheeled myself out to the ambulance pick up point to plead for the next ambulance out, but this man told me I couldn’t wait outside, and against my will wheeled me back to the A & E waiting area.

Eventually I was told my ambulance was ready, 14 hours after arriving that morning and nearly 7 hours after my treatment and consultations were complete. I bit my tongue throughout and wasn’t rude and didn’t complain, and whether that worked in my favour or not I will never know. Unfortunately I was so late leaving, that the pharmacies were closed and as a result I didn’t get my pain relief medicine until the following afternoon. In the meantime the effects of the injection at around 4pm had long since worn off, so I ended up going home in as much pain as when I had started out that morning. The ambulance staff were excellent though, and wheeled me and then carried me to where I needed to be next to my bed at home.

So, after my 14 hour visit, just to really get an injection and prescription, was I impressed? Not really. I think the facilities are acceptable, and the staff were able, pleasant and accommodating, and the disappointing soup was a minor concern that could be overcome with a little sachet of salt and access to a microwave oven. The lack of attractive staff uniforms were a much greater concern however, as without a pretty nurse or two the whole experience is a total downer, and I don’t think low patient morale is not a good recipe for speedy recovery. The fact that there was only one doctor available is another concern, and makes the department name ‘Urgencies’ somewhat meaningless. The organisation of patients however was totally unacceptable, from the worthless sticker scheme right through to leaving the hospital. But that is what this new computerised system is supposed to address, so perhaps my ‘accident’ just occurred at the wrong time.

Maybe I was just unlucky with my own situation, but I can only reiterate that I was in extreme pain for many hours. To send me home when the only effective pain relief treatment had worn off was unacceptable, and possibly dangerous. Given my circumstances they should have kept me in overnight at least.

Anyway, just to finish up, I would say that I was so glad that my little bit of substandard Portuguese was so useful. Without it I probably couldn’t even have summoned an ambulance, let alone understood what was going on at the hospital, which would otherwise at the very least been confusing, if not even more scary.

—————————————

BTW – Snow here again in  the high zones, and Tobi sent in this video link :

http://www.dnoticias.pt/default.aspx?file_id=dn03010101300109

You shouldn’t need to sign in to the Diário website anymore.

—————————————

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, topical photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to ???? … one from the archive of a cloud nestled in a valley, but I don’t recall where it was taken or who by.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 29/1/2009

In today’s top story, Funchal council (CMF) is to complete an exchange of land deal which will net them a paper loss of €5 million. The urbanisation contract between CMF and Savoy SIET will see the exchange of lands with similar building space capacities, but with quite different valuations in Pico das Romeiras and the Savoy location. The reasons are a bit complex and lengthy for translation and inclusion here, but hell it’s just public money anyway!

‘Madeira in the centre of the screen’ : Madeira hasn’t had as much attention from the Portuguese for a long time. This is the opinion of the body of actors, actresses, producers and even the director of the nightly series Flor do Mar (Flower of the Sea) on channel TVI, as stated during the filming of new scenes this week in São Vicente. The view is supported on the basis of the outcome of viewing audiences. “The numbers do not lie” stresses the actor Paula Lobo Antunes, “More than three million viewers,” he added. All are unanimous: Madeira has the potential to be the scene of new television series’, and even film productions. I couldn’t agree more, how about a remake of ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil’ to start off then? (you need to translate one word into Portuguese to make this work for you).

Well it must be almost fate that this headline appeared just hours before I was intending to publish my blog report on my ‘visit’ to FCH (Funchal Central Hospital). ‘Emergencies (A & E) without a doctor for 3 hours’. There was not a doctor to be seen in the A & E department at FCH between 1pm and 3.30pm on Wednesday afternoon. The clinical director says the problem of prolonged lunches will continue until the “canteen is ready” after works will start early in the Summer. Patients were complaining, some were screaming. One lady took her son in before 11am with breathing difficulties, and he didn’t get seen properly until 4pm when it turned out he had pneumonia. We can only hope that someone invents sandwiches in the meantime, to see us through to the canteen completion.

Other News :

The area around the Câmara Municipal of Porto Moniz has had a face-lift and some modifications. This included new 11 covered parking spaces and 17 uncovered, but also an increase in the pedestrian area of the town, making it capable of holding public events, and also an upgrade of utility services in the zone. It was opened by president Jardim on Wednesday afternoon. The cost, a mere €890,000, so I hope no one will ever complain about the cost of car parking here again.

The Socialist Party deplore the statements of president Jardim, after he asked the companies of the region to give priority to labour from Madeira. It was, in the words of Gabriel Oliveira, a position of “bad taste, unfortunate and discriminatory.” The head of the Department of Immigration and Emigration of the PS recalls that Madeira is a land of emigrants, and that if the governments of the host countries made identical appeals, the region could not deal with the likely mass return of workers currently employed abroad.

In a week that seems to be revolving around the ups and down of Porto Santo, today’s story tells of the state of the supermarkets … being that the shelves are nearly empty, particularly of fresh foods. “This is worthy of an island of the third world. A clear example that we are overlooked in this corner in the middle of the Atlantic, where the interests are not for the population of Porto Santo.” This is the voice of Ricardo Silva, one of the many people who could not acquire goods he needed in the last few days in the supermarkets on the island. “There is nothing! The shelves are empty,” he said. Doesn’t surprise me in the least, as the Porto Santo Line only gave about 6 months notice of the withdrawal of the ferry, who can be expected to plan alternatives in that time? The ferry will now arrive back a day sooner than planned (today) and so the first crossing should now be tomorrow.

18th April 2010 will see the maiden visit of a cruise ship from the Disney Cruise Line. ‘Disney Magic’ will be the first visitor, with a second ship planned to come in September. The cruises are aimed at entertaining youngsters rather than adults.

In the Portugal cup last night Valdevez, of the second division, drew 1 – 1 with Nacional. Nacional eventually qualified on penalties (1 – 3) meaning they reach the last 4 of the competition for the first time in their history.

This weekends football : Marítimo v Naval and Nacional play Leixões. Both games are on Sunday at 4pm, neither is televised.

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, topical 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 … this photo was taken late afternoon at Santa Cruz.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 28/1/2009

The taxi drivers protest took place on Tuesday, about unfair competition, and costs and commitments, in the car park at Praia Formosa. Over 100 taxis attended, with the aim of drawing their plight to the attention of the regional secretary for tourism and transport. The statement made accuses Funchal buses, tour operators, and hotel buses of amongst other things ‘dishonesty in competition’. There must be plenty of honest taxi drivers I am sure (this is my politically correct bit in case you hadn’t noticed), but why do the words pot, black, and kettle keep popping into my mind?

Funchal Central Hospital may be losing it’s one and only neuropediatrician on Monday, as he goes on prolonged leave and then intends to take early retirement. His disappearance will also affect the department for Pediatric Cardiology. Should this happen, the hospital will have to go to outside agencies to fulfil its obligations. Neuropediatria (also called Pediatric Neurology and Child Neurology) is a speciality or sub-medical speciality devoted to diseases or disorders of the nervous system and muscular system which manifest themselves in childhood or adolescence. Up until now the unit provided around 1,000 consultations annually.

After the good news that the golden beach has returned, and that the ferry will return on Sunday, Porto Santo Island now has the news about the plans of Cristiano Ronaldo to build a 300 bed resort on the coast there. The resort will be built on a prohibited area, once the council and regional government have agreed a plan to officially ‘urbanise’ the land. CR and his partners have asked that this move be ‘fast tracked’ in order to get the project underway quickly. The hotel should rank with 7 stars once complete, and the 10 hectare development will include small houses and apartments. The government is known to be in favour of the project which will obviously create construction jobs and hopefully future prosperity. But it is a dodgy game changing building restrictions to suit one specific project, and in this case the long term objective to fill the resort with tourists or whoever is decidedly dodgy when the future tourism numbers are looking so weak. 

Aside from the usual football story, the other article is about the erection in Funchal of more of these huge panel displays, that give motorists and others current information on things they might need or want to know, about what is going on in the city.

Other News :

Banco Alimentar Animal (BAA), or in English ‘Animal Feeding Bank’, is an organisation based on the continent that uses an army of volunteers and it’s food bank to make sure stray animals are well fed. It sees the potential to set up an organisation on Madeira also. The warehouse is kept full by the BAA, often with donations from people and local companies, and volunteers go and stock up periodically and feed mainly cats and dogs who need food. To sign up go to : www.bancoalimentar-animal.blogspot.com or you can email enquiries to bancoalimentaranimal@gmail.com .

No mention of it, but I hope they can tie in with the other animal care organisations running here, as we need more resources not the same amount spread more thinly.

The Diário has a little gloat about it’s statistics, claiming that in 2008 it received nearly 2 million visitors from 155 countries, with nearly 17 million pages viewed. It also announces that in future it will no longer be necessary to be registered to use their website, which means when I reproduce a link on the blog in future you can go direct to the Diário page without having to sign in (so I might do a few more links in future, particularly to great photos). You can also comment against individual stories now too, which is good. The online Diário will also have 4 new interactive sections, and coming in the next few days you will be able to opt to receive a newsletter. Considering there is no worthwhile competition to the Diário, I have to say I find it really quite good … after all it is not their fault if the news is a bit uninteresting at times. They do lack the bulldog spirit though, and good stories often die out without completion, for example the corruption story yesterday, and perhaps the mosquito problem they could do more to help expedite progress.

Football today : Portugal cup – Valdevez vs Nacional at 3pm (I think)

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, topical 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 … sunset from his terrace overlooking Funchal.

If you are wondering why Eiryl’s photos are appearing so often at the moment, it is because they are the only ones I can access from my bedtop computer, the others I won’t be accessing until I am mobile enough to get back in the office, but they are not forgotten I promise. I could do with some more to keep me going until I can back back to normal, which I am now thinking could take longer than I anticipated. Several people have kindly contacted me with advice and experiences. It is sinking in that this is not the short term problem I was anticipating, although I did manage to get a few consecutive hours of sleep last night for the first time in 4 nights, which will go a long way to ensuring my continued sanity (for those that still judge me as being sane that is).

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 27/1/2009

The president of the Portuguese airline TAP had a meeting in the regional parliament that lasted 3 hours. One of the issues raised was the application of airport taxes and the impact on prices, particularly for students and disadvantaged groups, and the TAP president is concerned that the supplements are holding back ticket sales. He was told he should treat Madeira just like any other destination and follow the market rules. Not looking for special favours were you Mr. TAP by any chance? I wonder how often Easyjet get invited in to discuss their problems?

Following investigations into corruption on Madeira that ran until the spring of last year, the Procuradoria Geral of the republic (PGR) (Public Prosecutor?) has said that although there are still investigations running, there is no corruption ‘dossier’ for Madeira. The investigations were into accusations of corruption in public life, and were submitted to Lisbon in 2007 by the socialists (PS-M), and almost nothing has been heard in the past 6 months or more. Some news is expected next month about the continuing investigations. Somehow, perhaps rather cynically, I would  expect any accusations or actions against the regional government to be ‘delayed’ through some excuse, what with 3 elections being held this year n’ all.

A document of around 100 pages is being prepared by the regional government with dozens of proposals for projects to be financed, over and above those approved in the state budget for Madeira for 2009. The package is the basis for a request for a budget supplement to help the economy and people of Madeira, and amounts to €145 million. Depending on the response of the republic, any approved funding will add to Madeira’s debt, and it may mean that bank funding needs to be sought.

Other News :

Next months carnival season will see €345,000 spent in 4 days of celebration, not including the firework display from the leftovers of the new year spectacular. That’s €4,000 more than last year. The main ‘allegoric’ parade will take place on 21st February at 9pm. 7 ‘trupes’ will make up the main element, working around the theme of ‘astronomy’.The final event is the ‘Trapalhão’ parade on 24th February at 4pm. The article outlines the plans for each of the 7 trupes involved in the main parade.

The mainstream Spanish newspaper ‘El Pais’ has run an article about the political situation on Madeira, in which president Jardim is referred to as the ‘presidente eterno’. The author states that under the conditions that Madeira’s politics run “not even the pope would be able to defeat Jardim” and that the PSD here is the leftovers of the Salazar (dictatorship) regime . A christian democrat spokesman is quoted in the article as saying that “the government of Madeira has absolute majority confused with absolute power”. Talking about the relationship between Portugal and Madeira, the article says that “there is no political will to look at Madeira as a part of Portugal”. I think that about sums it all up pretty nicely, and this is an opinion from Spain, not from me – Carlos are you there?

In news that will please many, the Porto Santo Line ferry returns to service on Sunday after it’s refit and 5 year major service.

Cristiano Ronaldo put an end to a dry patch in his scoring record last night, knocking in two goals, and sending his team 3 points clear at the top of the English premier league.

—————————————–

I am still working on my report on my day at the hospital on Sunday, so that should be ready soon. I will say what I really think, so if anyone is going to suggest that I leave Madeira, as an advance warning, I won’t be doing so, so please don’t waste your typing finger. There will also be a rare and shocking sexist comment from me, which again may be a reason not to read it for those who might find it upsetting.

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, topical 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 … Seixal (“both Seixal and Porto Moniz were the calmest we have ever seen in many years of visiting”).

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 26/1/2009

A ´low profile’ jolly by the regional Secretary of planning and finances to Australia has been discovered, to the embarrassment of the social democrat party. The trip cost €20,000 and lasted 3 weeks. The move was uncovered after people started asking where Ventura Garcês had disappeared to, and the excuse he was ‘off sick’ was wearing a bit thin. The trip was organised to meet Madeirans living in Australia. Government officials here are obliged by law to publish movement of this sort. Sr. Garcês had his ‘holiday’ flight and hotels paid, and got €100 per day spending money as well. We already know that there is no democracy here once the elections are finished, but does this government actually do anything ‘by the book’?

The 378 (Sept 2008) AIDS sufferers on Madeira face a real struggle for survival, as they face discrimination and cannot get work. The pension they get of €204 does not cover their specialist living expenses, although they do get free medication. The Diário interviews a number of sufferers and hears about the problems they face in trying to prolong their lives, and the call for more support. Perhaps Sr. Garcês has some spending money left over from his Australia jolly he might like to donate?

A picture of the giant pot of stew at the Chão da Ribeira weekend festival in Seixal, for the ‘Panelo’, is one of the stories. The stew from the giant cooking pot is served on large cabbage leaves. Saves washing up I suppose.

Transavia is to restart its ‘low cost’ service between Paris and Madeira in April. Headline news maybe, but it’s recycled news if I recall.

That’s is for today’s short blog, but I did take a quick look at every story and there wasn’t much of interest yesterday, so a bit more rest for my ailing back.

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, topical photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Sarah … inside the church at Monte.

This blog was prepared for yesterday … but better late than never!

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 24/1/2009

Main headline : ‘Unemployment Returns To The Start of Jardinism’. December’s unemployment figures are the worst since February 1979, with 9,302 now ’signing on’ at the Regional Institute of Employment (IRE), and also with fewer companies offering work and others more likly to fire than hire, or closing down. You can visit the IRE website to search for jobs at www.ire.gov.pt, but With Machico, Ponta do Sol, Porto Moniz, Ribeira Brava and Santana offering only two jobs each, don’t get your hopes up. Of course these are government provided figures, with trade unions and opposition parties talking about the true figures being well over 10,000.

The Diário interviewed several unemployees, and this is what two said:

João Olim, 24 years, Assistant driver. Having finished working in the Port of Porto Santo, I am unemployed since the beginning of the year and, with a wife and daughter, I will see what I can find. Otherwise, the solution is to ‘go’. Its not the first time that I had to migrate.

Calaça Conceição, 47 years, Domestic (with husband unemployed). I came to get the papers for the unemployment allowance for my husband who was fired. We have three children, and only the oldest one works. Fortunately the house is paid for. With my age now nobody gives me work. On the scrapheap at 47 … not much hope for me then!

Câmara do Lobos gets picked on again for ‘black spots’ of drug problems, poverty, and crumbling properties, in particular in the area called Bairro de Palmeira. There unemployement is high, often by choice, and physical and mental health problems are common. Street crime and burglaries are everyday occurences, most of it drug related. 3,500 people live there in 410 families. The Diário interviews a number of residents who feel trapped in that society, some blaming the government for the situation, others blaming those who live there for degradation of the neighbourhood.

The police and CMF (Funchal council) want to stop people parking in the Praça do Município (Town Square), and fine those who continue to do so. The priest in the church nearby warned his flock last Sunday, many of whom park there, and said he was going to fight to reverse the decision. With so much parking in the vicinity reserved for resident and disabled drivers, and many chuch goers being elderly or having walking difficulties, the college church is faced with declining audiences. The authorities say that all they are doing is enforcing the highway code in a pedestrian area, and that there is plenty of free parking to be found in Funchal on Sundays.

The Spanish ferry owner ‘Naviera Armas’ who own the ‘Volcán de Tijarafe’, the ferry ship that serves Madeira, are having 4 new ships built in Spain. The one under construction at present should (but not definately) be named ‘Volcán da Madeira’. There are lots of facts and figures about this new ‘5 star’ vessel, but as there is no suggestion yet that it will serve the Madeira route, I didn’t think there was much point in repeating them.

The customary football story takes the lion’s share of the front page, seemingly with the Marítimo manager not impressed with the referee in the 0 – 0 draw against Leixões.

Other News :

‘Black January for Porto Santo’ is another article on the woes of the island. The photo shows an empty street with various cafes and bars and not one person in sight with the caption “Without the boat (ferry) and without tourists, Porto Santo looks like this : empty!”. With the hotels practically empty, and the restaurants without customers, some businesses are seriously considering shutting the doors. 6 restaurants have already closed temporarily, others say they sometimes go all day without selling a meal. Travel agents, taxis and hire cars have to manage purely on the local trade … a meagre 5,000 people, who no doubt are suffering their own financial problems. Aside from the dreadful news about the Columbo Resort, other construction companies are struggling, and many workers have not been paid for several months and are in danger of being laid off. Several business owners were interviewed and they talk of a dire situation.

- Luís Figueira (handicrafts and souvenirs) “This is one of the worst January’s. People spend little, we have no tourists, the hotels are empty, the boat does not travel and by plane it is unsustainable. The takings do not cover the rent and staff.”

- Luis Bettencourt (Toy Shop, HI-FI and video club)

“Nobody can resist. Even if we lower prices it makes no difference because there is no market for the services we provide. It is complicated. If we do not take measures the situation will worsen much more.”

- Miguel Rocha (taxi driver) “If crisis is the name that we give it, then we are in crisis. Never in the last 20 years past did we have a situation like this. Without the boat and tourists, I do not make enough for even the daily expenses.”

- Valdemar Brito (Entrepreneur) “This year compared to last year I have had a fall in sales of around 90%. This means that as I am not charging. I have rent arrears, and if this situation remains it is unacceptable. Closing the business will be the only option as I see no other solution.”

- Miguel Pita (restaurant) “Since 2002 I have always been in Porto Santo in the catering industry, this is by far the worst year of all. I hope the golf tournament stirs things up a bit and that the summer brings us something good.”

Well there is one bit of good news … your sand is back. Winds and seas took much of the golden beach away over the last two months, but the stones have now disappeared and it is back to Summer standards thanks to last weeks tides.

Our second road death so far this year happened in Machico on Friday morning when a 40 year old woman was run over. However as she died from her injuries later that afternoon in hospital, she won’t count as a road death statistic in the rather stupid system used here.

Nacional drew 1 – 1 with Sporting Saturday night. Nacional missed a penalty, but still not a bad result.

———————————————–

I notice that CaboTV or ZON have some new English speaking channels if you have the powerbox, but not very interesting ones for me. Channel 28 is called NASN, which I think must stand for North American Sport ????, and Channel 46 which will be great if you have babies. MEO claim to have exclusive access to NASN, but obviously not the case. We should also be getting free access to ‘National Geographic Wild’ by now, also I think in English, but I certainly can’t get it yet.

Funny thing happened whilst out and about on Friday night when I was talking to someone who has a holiday home here but who doesn’t read this blog. They told me a second hand story about a politician known simply as ‘The Rabbit’ who was going to try and get elected to the council at Câmara do Lobos (true so far) and who would then challenge President Bertie for his job. I was of course suprised to hear of the ‘Rabbit’ outside of the blog community, but who on earth started a rumour that a communist was going to challenge Bertie for his job?

I had to do this on my laptop in bed, so I wasn’t able to do a spellcheck, so I hope not too many errors!

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, topical 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 … Late on New Year’s Day at Jardim do Mar … nice pic except that darn fisherman getting in the way!

Front Page News : source Diário de Notícias 23/1/2009

Today’s main story : The dream of the entrepreneur Sílvio Santos for the Colombo Resort on Porto Santo Island has come to an abrupt end, as the banks take possession of the whole project. The banking syndicate that funded the project has been informed that there is no more money to continue, let alone repay any investors. Discussions have been held with both the governments of Madeira and the republic to find a solution, but nothing has been decided. One of the options being considered was a joint venture involving the Department for Tourism of Portugal to get the project finished. Initially the project employed 400 workers, but that has gradually diminished, eventually stopping work altogether. Very sad … Porto Santo 12 months ago had so much hope for tourism, development, local jobs, and a growing economy, but everything seems to have has gone wrong. I can’t imagine any business wanting to invest there in the next few years, but I hope I am wrong.

Since the Judicial Court of Funchal had it’s metal detector operational at the entrance, security guards there are taking between 6 and 10 ‘white weapons’ a day off people who enter. A ‘white weapon’ is essentially a knife, but could include any sharp metal object with the potential to injure someone. The headline is eye-catching, but later you realise that it is mostly hype, as as these are not violent criminals entering the court, these are people with pocket knives, and nail files and nail cutters in ladies handbags.

Taxi drivers are to stage a protest on Tuesday over concerns about increased fuel prices and unfair competition form travel agencies and other organisations that ‘take’ their customers. Combined with the economic crisis in the general sense, they are finding it hard going to make a living. According to the notice placed in the rear window of the taxis, the protest will take the form of a ‘gathering’ at the parking area in Praia Formosa at 4pm on Tuesday.

The all powerful social democratic party (PSD-M) is withholding documents from the opposition parties. Files relating to contracts, developments, and other matters of parliamentary business, which all politicians have a constitutional right to access, have been withheld since as far back as last May. The socialists (PS-M) will make a formal complaint to the appropriate governmental body in Lisbon to have the matter rectified. Just when you think that Jardim’s party can’t make life any more difficult for the opposition, we learn of another dirty tactic aimed at crushing the opposition. I would say that being an opposition politician must be sheer hell, but perhaps earning up to twenty times the minimum salary makes work a little more tolerable.

Aside from the daily football piece, the only other story was about ‘The Experimental Theatre of Funchal’ (that I have not heard of) that is taking it’s turn in being hit by the crisis with reducing numbers of plays and actors. Normally it presents 2 adult and 2 children’s shows each year. In the past it received funding to the tune of €150,000 a year, but this year that is expected to be halved. Increasing the ticket prices form €10 (adult) in these hard times is no option either.

Other News :

The Madeira assembly managed to agree with almost total unity on two matters this week. The first was a vote of congratulations to Cristiano Ronaldo for winning the FIFA player of the year award … but who would have dared to vote otherwise during an election year. The second matter was a vote on a two percent pay rise for themselves, where all the parties voted in favour, except the PCP who abstained, which was not really very brave of them knowing it was bound to go through anyway. Two percent on a salary of up to twenty times the minimum salary … must be worth around €2,000 a year, so not a bad days work!

Chão da Ribeira, in the freguesia of Seixal, has a festa this weekend, with up to 4,000 people expected to attend. Unlike most festas, the ‘Panelo’ doesn’t celebrate anything specific but has taken place at the same time annually for many many years. The ‘Panelo’ is actually a 150 litre cooking vessel, and it will be filled with 2 sacks of potatoes, 2 sacks of cabbage, 38 kilos of pork, 15 kilos of traditional spicy sausage (chouriço) and 15 kilos of sweet potatoes, and that’s just for Sunday lunch.

Marítimo 0 – 0 Leixões last night.

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, topical photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!