Flood in full flow ; Was Jefferson a Madeira fan? ; & other news headlines (to follow)
Today’s photo – Many thanks to Tobi for sending them in : I don’t actually know who took the second photo … Serra de Água. You will have already seen the ‘after’ photos? But here are the ‘before’, and ‘during’ … taken on 20th February 2010 … staggering.
"Here’s something different. Local Madeira spider, may be someone can tell me what type it is?" Pete.
Many thanks to Becky for these videos :
How to find the British Cemetery in Funchal
Tragedy in Madeira – Before and After (interesting side by side photos accompanied by some truly awful music… has anyone ever written a song about Madeira that was any good?! Come on, Der, I’m expecting ‘Ribeira Brava, Ribeira Brava’ to buck the trend…).
Many thanks to Paul for this :
Cedary, layered 1780 Borges Bual Madeira ($2,450) that could have been drunk by Thomas Jefferson.
Image caption: A bottle of 1843 Bual Madeira
John Pierpont Morgan likes to sip old vintages of Madeira with his fellow industrialists while cruising New York harbor on his steam yacht Corsair.
Why vintage Madeiras have begun to attract more collectors in the past three years
Image caption: Thomas Jefferson, portrait 1791, the 3rd President of the United States.
“The wine is surprisingly delicious, its caramel and candied fruit flavors and lively acidity intact after more than two centuries.
Which is why vintage Madeiras have begun to attract more collectors in the past three years. For several hundred to several thousand dollars, you can sip pieces of history that still taste good and aren’t in enough demand to inspire fakes.” Link to full article
Sheila sent in these photos of the ‘Garajau dog’ abandoned at home by his owner :
Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :
Storm interrupts holidays holidays of the deputies – The Peoples Party pressured and the parliamentary recess will be suspended to approve urgent assistance to those harmed.
Arsenal supportive towards Ribeira Brava – The shirt of footballer Eduardo delivered to the ‘face’ of the tragedy. The photo shows Ismael Fernandes, president of Ribeira Brava, presenting the Arsenal shirt to José Feliz, the lad that lost 7 family members and was badly injured himself on 20th February in a landslide in Pomar da Rocha. The official shirt of the number 9 of Arsenal of London, Brazil born Eduardo da Silva, was given to young José Feliz. All of the Arsenal team signed the shirt, which was first of all auctioned for £600 and then given to Ismael, who was in London for a weekend fund raising event.
Today’s main news headline : Taxman and Social Security facilitate reconstruction – Reduced bureaucracy in response to the storm : based on a legal counsel the Directorate of Finance waives the bank guarantee for traders and businessmen engaged in reconstruction. Social Security will also facilitate.
[Recovery] Works in all the city except in Laranjal – The complaint continues. After the street clean the machines just disappeared. The debris remains there. And there are three bodies to be found. That’s the big picture today, and it’s certainly not the first time the Diário has given front page coverage to the plight of Laranjal in Santo António, that seems to have got left behind in the clean up and rebuilding. There are not even any men or equipment there on clean up work, whilst the rest of Funchal is still busy in that respect. The Diário refers to it as a "scene of death and destruction". Still missing are a young lady and her 9 month old baby, and a 16 year old neighbour. Few of the residents have been able to return home, through damage to their homes and fear of new landslides.
United Nations widens campaign to Madeira – In April, there will be launched here a mineral water for commercialisation to help in humanitarian causes of the ONU. The ‘Earth Water’ brings Fátima Lopez, the boyfriend of Madonna and maybe Luís Figo. As for who that is in the yellow dress in the bottom right hand corner to today’s front page, I have no idea, as it doesn’t appear to be Fátima Lopez (I thought she was older with shorter hair). The launch of the initiative will be at the Vine Hotel in Funchal on 14th April. All seems a bit odd to me … Madeira itself will be targeted to raise money for the ONU and it’s causes, at a time when it needs money raised for itself?
Swan Lake is "an extraordinary challenge" – The Diário watched two scenes of the ballet that joined together the Moscow Tchaikovsky Ballet and the Classical Orchestra of Madeira. It must have been a spectacular two and a half hours with 50 rather fit Russian ladies, probably some blokes too, and that was just the dress rehearsal. But unlike the Diário, Der’s blog doesn’t get free tickets for reviews, especially for the real thing tonight, so no review from me. There are still some tickets left (€50) if you are quick.
The main sport / football headline today : No sport headline … that’s two days running!
If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link. All contributions much appreciated.
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Crack could mean collapse. A fissure opened in a wall that supports land near the Business Park in Garachico in the parish of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos. The February rains have deepened the fissure and there could be subsidence of earth, trees and rocks if there are more episodes of intense rain. A landslide caused some damage a few days ago. The situation is being monitored by the council, Madeira Business Park and the Regional Secretariat for Social Infrastructure.
Choupana Hills Resort leads the nominations for the World Travel Awards. The WTA are the ‘oscars’ of tourism according to The Wall Street Journal. The Choupana Hills Resort leads the Portuguese nominations as it is a candidate in five categories and The Vine and Tivoli Madeira have three nominations. There are in total about 5,000 entries (airlines, tour operators, car rental firms, destinations and new hotels) from 162 countries. There are several Portuguese nominations. TAP is one of 10 airline candidates. Lisbon is nominated in four categories – Best Destination, Best Destination for City Breaks, Best Cruise Destination and Best Cruise Port. Several luxury hotels in the Algarve and some hotels in Madeira are also candidates.
Cherimoyas. Some consider the cherimoya one of the most delicious fruits available, but its commercial production is limited by a short growing season and shelf life. The cherimoya is native to the valleys of Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia, spreading to Chile and Brazil during ancient times. The United States Department of Agriculture imported cherimoya seeds from the Madeira Islands in 1907. 
Stopped work obstructs stream. Residents living in the vicinity of the Ribeiro do Moreno in Santa Cruz are worried by debris from the floods of February 20th blocking the water course. The stream runs beneath the airport and is obstructed between the bridge linking Rua de São Sebastião to the placa do aeroporto (?). Flooding closed the Rua de São Sebastião and Rua de Santa Catarina for three days. The cause of the blockage is a seven year old concrete and iron remnant from when a petrol filling station began to be constructed. The construction was stopped when there was a dispute over inheritance of the land. The injunction has not been lifted and the structure still stands in the stream. The case is under review.
Compensation rises to 133 million Euros. The Portuguese Association of Insurers estimates the amount of compensation claimed after the storm of February 20th will reach 150 million Euros. Already, 1,532 claims have been recorded. Originally, they estimated a loss of 60 million Euros. This is the worst event in the history of Portuguese insurance.
More than two hundred put to work in zones affected by the storm. The exercise repeats at the month end. Two hundred and forty-two people will be put to work in local institutions and charities in the areas most affected by the storms of 20th February. The program of recruitment of workers was set up by the Government, and is aimed at the unemployed receiving unemployment benefits. The deadline for applications ended on Monday, but at the end of the month the recruitment drive will be reopened for another wave of applications. The placement program for unemployed does not have any cost to local authorities or to social institutions that provide support to victims of the storm. Workers continue to receive unemployment benefits increased by 25% of the regional minimum wages, in addition to allowances for transportation. 
