All the postings below are from Paul :
World Cup: Algerian Defender plays for CD Nacional Madeira. Goal.com reports:
“..the least known of the Algerian defenders (Rafik Halliche) , but…certainly not the least talented. His aggressive play and his combativeness on the ground make …him an essential element of the team.”
Image caption : Logo of C.D Nacional
“Having proven reliable in the Algerian league, he was recruited by Benfica Lisbon, and then sent immediately on loan to Nacional Madeira.” wikipage on Rafik Halliche:
Eusebio on….
Football : "Football nowadays is just commercial. Television commands the times of the games. The players are very good, obviously. I’m happy for the modern-day player who signs his contract and makes lots of money. The players of my era helped make that possible. "I respect the football of today but the football of my time was better. Football hasn’t got better, it has just evolved, from the ball to the boots to the shirts to the training methods – everything around them. Pelé, George Best, Cruyff, Garrincha would have been amazing players today.
"When we played Real Madrid and won 5-3 [in the 1962 European Cup final – Eusébio scored two] it was soaking wet and the ball ended up weighing a kilo. It didn’t have a brand. That’s why Pelé or Garrincha, if they played now, would be so wonderful. Consider their boots. There was no personalised footwear from Adidas. We’d have one pair for all surfaces, and the kitman would change the studs according to the conditions. Sometimes they’d do it in a rush and a nail would still be in there. You’d take your boot off and there would be blood from where the nail had penetrated your foot. Back then we made money, but we played for the love, it was all heart."
image caption : Escultura do futebolista Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, no Estádio do Benfica (Lisboa, Portugal).
African football : In this fraternal spirit he urges Africa’s World Cup contenders to assume a strong group mentality: "The problem is that the players are quite individual. I wish the players would get together and work together. If that happened African football would take another leap forward."
Portugal’s record : And he chafes when asked why Portugal have failed to convert talent into international trophies:
"What a lot of people don’t know is that Portugal have won tournaments, just not at senior level. Their juniors have always been very strong in World Cups and European Championships.
"The problem is that when people think of Portugal and these great players they forget it’s a very small country. It’s not easy. Portuguese clubs have won European trophies, but it’s a very fine line between success and failure at international level and it’s a very small country.
"Compare Brazil to Portugal and it’s David and Goliath". Compare Brazil to Portugal and it’s David and Goliath. The colonies in Africa – Angola and Mozambique – had four players in the Portugal side in 1966 and that’s gone now because these countries have their own national sides. You’ve lost that stream of players."
Ronaldo & Messi : Of Ronaldo he says: "I know him very well, he’s a very good professional, a hard worker. At Real Madrid when all the players leave training he stays there and takes free-kicks, takes penalties, takes the ball on his own, dribbles. His work ethic is very good, without the coach asking him to do it. When my colleagues were back at home eating I’d still be practising and Ronaldo is the same, a real hard worker. I’m not a Barcelona fan but I very much admire Lionel Messi. I haven’t seen him train. I know Ronaldo a lot better. Currently, Messi is the best player in the world. He writes his name all over the pitch."
To summon the spirit of his era – the 60s and early 70s – just ask whether Ronaldo might surpass him as Portugal’s nonpareil. "I’m a footballer, not a pundit," he says. "Seven-times best footballer [in Portugal], top scorer at the World Cup, voted into the all-time Fifa top 10. Those are just the facts. I’m not sure whether anyone can surpass that. It’s up to you guys to decide. I’m proud to say I’ve done something for the good of football. I don’t compare myself to anyone."
The greatest of all World Cup goals?
He points to Carlos Alberto – Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning captain, who is with him in London, and who scored arguably the greatest of all World Cup goals. "There are things you can’t forget, moments in history like that." Link to full ‘Guardian’ interview article with Eusebio:
Portuguese celebrations in Shangai. The Shanghai Daily reports: Four Portuguese drivers arrived in Shanghai after a 16,000-kilometre overland trip through Europe and central Asia to China. The quartet drove along the route taken by Italian traveller Marco Polo during his odyssey to China in the late 13th century. Riding in two sport utility vehicles filled with gear, they left Portugal’s central city of Leiria on May 1, and arrived at People’s Square in Shanghai. 
Image caption : Statue of Marco Polo in Hangzhou, China, near the West Lake
The five-week trip made it possible for them to celebrate Portugal’s Pavilion Day tomorrow.
"The links between Portugal and China go back a long way. And it is precisely for this purpose that the trip will be carried out: with the intention of strengthening these relations, while permitting us to know other cultures on a journey that is expected to be fantastic in all aspects," they wrote on their Website before the start.
Afonso Cerejo came up with the idea as he lives in Jiangsu Province’s Changzhou city.
The other three team members are Rui Gaspar, 54, Luis Abreu, 48, Joao Caiado, 26.
The expedition team traveled across 13 countries in almost 40 days LINK
‘Queen in concert’. English.Eastday.com reports: “Portugal celebrates its National Pavilion Day today with concerts by renowned fado singer Mariza. The first Portuguese artist to be nominated for Grammy Award, Mariza is a renowned interpreter of fado music and will perform at the Expo Center at 11am and 8pm.
Image caption : Mariza at Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisboa, 2007
She is seen as the reigning queen of fado, a style of Portuguese folk music dating back to the early 1800s.” "I lived in a traditional Lisbon neighborhood and have always sung the fado – I understand myself through it," Mariza says. LINK
Needlework Nuns – trousseaux. The Times of India reports: “In this life, the beauty of the trousseaux is evanescing, particularly in Goa, the card carrier of the tradition. In this Portuguese palimpsest, only the ghosts of certain conventions remain….”
Image Caption : Trousseaux de mariées dans la médina de Tunis
Art in Calheta: dancing on Sunday afternoon to Chopin at Casa das Mudas: ‘Maiorca’! The Music Festival of Madeira moves to Calheta at 5pm on Sunday. VIDEO
Choreography by Paulo Ribeiro with: Pedro Burmester (piano), Erika Guastamacchia, Marta Cerqueira, São Castro, Gonçalo Lobato, Pedro Mendes and Romulus Neagu (dancers). Promotional video by João Pinto; light design by Nuno Meira; costumes by Ana Luena and music of F. Chopin (Preludes)
image Caption : ‘Casa das mudas international art centre’ perched on cliffs above Calheta marina and beaches.
The Porbeagle (Lamna nasus) shark. Here’s an image of the sharks mentioned in a recent posting:
“One shark, a juvenile male, migrated over 2400 km to Madeira off the west coast of Morocco during the wintertime…” link:
Image caption : Porbeagle (Lamna nasus) sharks
Wikipage on the shark:
Many thanks to Paul for sending in the contributions for this blog.
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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please only send in ‘exceptional’ or very topical photos by email attachment, as they take quite some time to process. Links to photos that are already online take much less time. Anything submitted for inclusion will be ‘cut and pasted’ to the blog very likely unchecked and unaltered, so please check anything through before sending it in, especially ‘automatic translations’, to avoid any ‘afterthoughts’. Blogs will be published when there is sufficient material to make one worthwhile. I can’t always respond to emails, so please accept my thanks in advance, and the attribution on the blog itself. Der.
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Thank You Der for the picture. But are they not all over Madeira. I did not know they could bite…..
1I read that the International Whaling Commission is likely soon to reinstate legal whaling throughout the world, by lifting the Moritorium.
Despite Japan and |Norway taking thousands of whales every year for ‘research’, numbers have increased although not evenly across the various type of whale.
I wonder the Madeiran Government’s view on the reinstatement of it’s whaling fleet.
Could the whalewatching boats be fitted with harpoons?
Who will eat the meat?
Whalemeat was off rationing in Britain during the last conflict.
Will a remake of ‘Moby Dick’ at Machico/Canical be on the cards?
2As a regular daily reader over the past 5 years I also look at the webcam website daily and have noticed two things on the webcam:
1) The Santana Theme Park appears to be almost empty on most occassions.
2) Likewise the golf course at Santo da Serra. I have even checked at weekends when one would expect to see competitions ongoing but I rarely see anyone playing.
As I live in Qatar I cannot confirm if the above is correct and would ask those “in the know” if both of these observations correct.
Thanks,
Robert
3Hi Noud, I am not even sure they are exactly the same creature as in the photo, similar maybe. I will count the legs next time I catch one.
I found one in my bed on Friday, but luckily spotted it before entering the land of nod.
4I inspected more closely one of the biting centopeias last night, and it is different to the photo. More legs, longer and thinner, and two very long gadgets on the front.
5