Madeira News Blog

How well do you know Madeira?

This teaser photo is from Vic. Many thanks.

48 hours allowed, then the correct answer will be given (if necessary).

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I have pretty much run out of daily photos for the blog, and I don’t really want a big rush in one go (would much rather have some written contributions), but does anyone have their blog photos online aside from Tobi? If so, could you give me permission to use them, and a link to the page where I could find them please. Using online photos is less work all round for the sender and me, but of course if you want to continue to send them as email attachments that’s fine.

Alternatively, if people would like to keep their photos on line, through something like the Flikr website, I am sure I could persuade Tobi to write a little piece about it and how it is done. Think of the advantages, free (I think), secure, not hogging up your disk storage space or cluttering your computer, and always accessible to the owner and whoever they want to invite for a peek from anywhere in the world. And then I can pinch some as well!

Anyway, a photo shortage is no big deal, it just means you will have to put with mine a bit more. This is a photo of a photo, hence the poor quality, part of an exhibition of photos of old buses currently on display in Ribeira Brava. The bottom part shows an old bus in Seixal very close to a pretty sheer drop. Makes my hands sweat just looking at it!

The following link takes you to the website of a Canadian artist, Sonia von Walter, who paints Madeira scenery, and now lives here POSTCARDS FROM MADEIRA

Limitations of mandates doesn’t worry Jardim – President of the Madeira government considers that the rule is anti-democratic. For Jardim the limitation of terms served signifies that "the people cannot choose who they want, when they want". The programme of the new government of Portugal foresees the introduction of limits on how many terms can be served. You only have to look at the photo of Uncle Bertie (from the Diário) to see when a man has served enough terms already. I wonder why prime minister José Sócrates would want to limit the number of terms a politician might serve, what could have possibly motivated that? As for the comment "anti-democratic", well why is the words pot, kettle and black, suddenly leapt into my mind?

Many thanks again to Elaine for yesterday’s top stories :

Population ignores danger. The public in the areas of Maiata, Larano and Lombinho in Porto da Cruz risk their lives every day by using the road Caminho da Maiata da Baixo, which runs beneath a rocky slope which is threatening to collapse. The road was closed by Machico Council in January 2008 with two large concrete blocks at the entrance but the closure is ignored by the public. People have repositioned the blocks despite a car being crushed by a falling rock last year and the occupant lucky to escape injury. People still use the road to prevent a long diversion, for example a six kilometre detour to the centre of Porto da Cruz. Three weeks before the local elections, the council removed the boulders most in danger of falling but work has since stopped due to lack of finance. It will resume when construction of a nearby promenade has begun.

Judicial Police seized 20,000 doses of cocaine. In the first ten months, there have been 49 arrests on suspicion of drug trafficking. Including the arrest yesterday of the man with 5,000 doses of cocaine, the police would have seized around 20,000 doses of cocaine. Also, 65,750 doses of hashish, and 51,500 doses of heroin.

Electronic security systems at entrances to baby and children units in the health service. To ensure safety, so they know who is on the units and to  prevent possible kidnappings as occurred in Portugal. Part of the computerization of the health service including patient records and drug consumption, in the latter case to economise.

Christmas illuminations more environmentally friendly. Assembly has begun of more than 400,000 lights which will form part of the Christmas display in Funchal from 27 November to 6 January. The lighting will differ from previous years with themes of astronomy and science alongside traditional themes. The lights are more energy efficient with greater longevity and lower power consumption and therefore more environmentally friendly. There will be stars, comets, planets and angels and the predominant colours will be green, red, gold and white with more bolder colours this year. There will also be the usual themed street displays plus flowers and the traditional exhibition of cribs in December. Also street entertainment.

27^th November – opening of the Christmas illuminations in the centre of Funchal. 4^th December – general illumination of the entire amphitheatre of Funchal. 11^th December – beginning of the Christmas exhibitions on Avenida Arriaga and other central locations of the city. 23^rd December – Market Night. 28^th December – St. Sylvester Race. 31^st December – New Year’s Eve Firework Display. 6^th January, 2009 – Twelfth Night Festival and End of the Madeira Festivities www.madeiratourism.org

Goodbye ‘Costa Europa’. The ‘Costa Europa’ arrived at 6.30 am from Tenerife with 4,800 tourists and left at 17.00 for Malaga. It is the 90th and final time she will be in port with that designation. Next year she will be operated by Thomson Cruises and the contract is for ten years, with the option to buy after five. The ship was built in 1986 and named ‘Westerdam’, then renamed ‘Costa Europa’ in 2002 and first visited Funchal on 15 May that year. The ‘AIDAvita’ (1,300) and ‘Oceana’ (1,900 mainly British tourists) also in port.

Madeira might loose 75 million Euros of European Funding. There are calls for more flexible time limits for implementation of community aid, which has to be within three contractual years. Madeira has only taken advantage of 5% of the available European Regional Development Fund and 11% of the European Social Fund. Madeira needs to submit projects which take advantage of 75 million Euros by the end of 2010. There are also funds for agriculture and fisheries not claimed.

Dispute over the funeral parlour in Porto Santo. Yesterday, it was reported that a funeral parlour was to be installed in an apartment block without notification of residents. The estate agent who sold the commercial space said the work was just to widen and repair a doorway, so a licence was not needed and he has no knowledge of his client’s future use of the area.

New public garden at Alamos. It will be 1,500 square metres and in Panrteada, Santo Antonio.

Regional Plan for Homeless People presented today. 37 measures to be implemented by 2011. Multi-sector and in collaboration with public and private organizations. The plan is initially for the 60 homeless people the authorities know about, and to prevent further situations developing through drug addiction, alcoholism, unemployment, family conflicts and psychosocial disorders.

Portugal wants to modernize the political system, including Madeira. The Socialist Portuguese government wants to limit the mandate of the Presidents of the Regional Governments. Propose a limitation of seats in the office of the prime minister and presidents of regional governments. Jardim is not worried about this nevertheless considers that the rule is anti-democratic as limitation of seats means that "people can not choose who you want when you want."

Google continues to travel across Funchal. D. Cidade again highlighted that a Google camera car is collecting data for Google Street View. Also reported in J. Madeira on November 1 which stated that the car had been travelling around Funchal for several days arousing curiosity. Funchal will be the third Portuguese city, the other two are Lisbon and Porto. —- So you might see a red car with Google stickers and a grey camera mounted on top, judging by the photo in Diário da Cidade.

A few news headlines from today’s Diário front page :

Uniforms in the schools – against the inequality, the idea of uniforms in the schools develops. André Escórcio also proposes teachers in smocks. Both excellent ideas. I had to wear a school uniform, and it didn’t do me any harm (but I have stopped making those films now).

New museum – The emigrant will have it’s own historic space in the old health centre of Ribeira Brava.

FC Porto Qualified – The Portuguese team has already passed to the next stage of the millionaires league. Porto won 0 – 1 at Apoel last night. This is the same team (Apoel) that once lost 16 – 1 to Sporting (of Portugal) in Europe, so I wasn’t impressed with the one goal margin.

Today’s top headline : Câmara obliges ‘Infante’ to carry out urgent works – A clear ultimatum : either the administration of the building goes forward with repair works, or the council manages the process and passes the bill to the residents. We have great laws here which oblige owners to keep their property in good nick, and if they don’t the local council can take on the maintenance and repairs and bill the owners. This condominium building ‘Edifício Infante’ now has that ultimatum from Funchal council, and from the photo I think they have a fair point.

Consumption on Madeira falls €1.6 million per day – Only touching on the issue of electronic transactions, the Madeirans spent €437 million less in 9 months.

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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 photo or video, 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. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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(17th July). Today’s main front page photo : A picture of the Marítimo football stadium, with heavy machinery digging up the pitch : ‘Start Of The Stadium In The hands Of IDRAM’. Funchal Council is waiting for an opinion from IDRAM (Sporting Institute of Madeira) on the stadium remodelling project before giving the go ahead for work to start at the stadium. However, work started last Monday on removing the football pitch at the Barreiros Stadium, with the official reason being given that the grass had been attacked by a fungus, a fungus that is not a major problem apparently. But the pitch is being re-laid in a position 7 meters away, leaving the necessary space to the south for the renovation of the stadium, for the construction works to begin, technically with the project unapproved.

‘Continent Closes Lists To Teachers Of The Islands – Teachers that teach on Madeira can’t find a way to get themselves transferred to Portugal’. The transfers have been blocked, and Madeira’s teachers will have some difficulties in obtaining teaching jobs in mainland schools, after they were informed they will be removed from the selection lists by the Ministry of Education. The jobs up for grabs for the new academic year are the reward from a huge recruitment process that happens once every 4 years, selecting firstly from teachers already in post. The first phase of the exercise has already appointed 417 teachers, the next phase in August aims to fill a massive 38 thousand places. Teachers here are talking about legal action, and the trade union is talking about discrimination against our teachers.

‘Police Investigate The Kidnapping Of A Porto Santo Businessman’. The man aged 78 went missing yesterday on Madeira, and the family have received a ransom demand’. The man, Guilherme Alves Bernardino, yesterday went to Madeira to work and should have returned home on a flight around 8 pm, but did not. About an hour later his wife received a phone call from a stranger who asked for a ransom to free the businessman. Bernardino is a well known businessman on Porto Santo. He is the owner of a Galp petrol station in the main town, has an electrical store in the same area, and has interests in a quarry and quarry machinery. His wife was receiving medical treatment this morning, as the news made her ill. Just when you think it could never happen here … it happens here!

‘University of Madeira And Live Science Launch Programme ‘Geology Of Summer 2009′ – Field trips to discover the evolution of Madeira and Porto Santo’. The initiative aims to inform about geological sites of interest on the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo. The first trip is about volcanic origins and takes place tomorrow, with the aim of seeing some evidence of the evolution of geology and the environment of Madeira. The second trip on Porto Santo is scheduled for 2nd August. If you want to go you can subscribe on LIVE SCIENCE – the website is available in English and it’s free to go on the trips.

There is a story today that is not news of worthy note, but it is about a collision between two cars inside a tunnel on Monday morning, that highlighted a failure to observe three safety laws, and could have had much more severe consequences. In this breakdown situation, the drivers didn’t: 1). activate the car indicators (blinkers), 2). Put on their reflective yellow jackets when leaving their vehicles, 3). Place the red warning triangle in the road to warn other drivers. 

(16th July). ‘TAP Launches Campaign For Madeira And Porto Santo – Flights from Lisbon to Funchal for €36 and to Porto Santo for €48′. The same prices are also available for flights from / to Porto. The campaign is national, and aimed to have a big impact, and has already started through the website  www.flytap.com, and is valid for journeys taken between 7th October and 17th December. The campaign was developed in collaboration with Madeira’s secretary for tourism, and ANAM, the airport operator, but applies to a limited number of seats. The prices in the promotion are also exempt from the fuel surcharges announced last week by Portugal’s main airline. There are also package holidays with 3 night stays in the hotels of ‘Porto Bay’, with "very interesting prices". The campaign is aimed at bringing tourists to Madeira, but the benefits are also there for Madeirans wishing to go the other way.

‘Costa Europa chartered – The cruise ship makes its 84th appearance in Funchal on Saturday’. The liner ‘Costa Europa’ owned by the Italian company Costa Crociere is to be chartered by Thomson Cruises for a period of 10 years. By April 2010 it will bear the new name ‘Thomson Dream’. The German built ship, constructed in 1986, has already changed names twice.

Another thin newspaper today, so unusually I can have the rest of the day off … lucky me!