Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … "the old lift at Fajã dos Padres, I saw 4 men get out of this when it came up , they must be mad?"

"In the hidden parish and beautiful valley of the town of Curral das Freiras, the traditional chestnut festival goes on. This festival roots back to the 1500’s when the community was built as a parish from pirates – as the story goes! Nevertheless, a community grew as did its use of chestnuts. Chestnut trees flourish in this area, and so, as a tradition, the surpluses of chestnuts are celebrated with special recipes and events". TRADITIONAL RECIPES AND CREATIVE GOURMET

From November 3^rd-7^th, Funchal will hold its first edition of the Madeira Gourmet Festival.

Following on from yesterday’s discussion, I understand that people may not have the confidence to do a news translation, but if one doesn’t try one never knows. If anyone wants to try and translate an article in full or part, (say up to 200 words) and send it to me by email I will be happy to look through it and send it back with any corrections. If there is a big response it may take me a couple of days to get back to you. Obviously I cannot do this every day, although I will do a common sense check and correct basic errors (such as missing accents and spelling errors) before posting, and as I read most of the Diário printed version nearly every day, I know pretty much what the articles are about. Don’t forget to send me the original article in Portuguese as well as a translation though. If using a translation programme, the most popular one is probably GOOGLE, and you can just ‘cut and paste’ the text in, but they all contain quirks and problems and just give a ‘gisted’ translation. Another useful hint may be to open two windows of Google Translator, one to do the full article, and another to get alternatives for individual words to make more appropriate choices. Entering a single word in the translator will bring up a number of alternatives, but only if they exist of course.

Jardim statue rejected – Proposal of the PND led to some exchanges of accusations. Finally, after a year and a half of waiting to be discussed, the proposal of the PND (New Democrats) to erect a statue of Alberto João Jardim was voted on. The PSD social democrats, Jardim’s party, rejected the draft resolution that had the vote of Baltasar Aguiar  of the PND, whilst the rest of the opposition deputies abstained. Jaime Ramos (PSD) said that the proposer of the measure "had no dignity" to suggest such an honour, and he replied that the fact that the draft resolution was being discussed was proof that the will of the parliamentary leader of PSD was not respected. "Sr. Jaime Ramos does not command the deputies (MPs) and does not command the Madeirans. Your word is worth zero", said Aguiar. For the PND member this was proof that "it is possible to play with a regime that for 30 years has played with the Madeirans". After the election antics of both the PSD and PND, well reported on this blog, it looks like the daggers are well out. For sure if the PSD had made such a proposal, the statue of Uncle Bertie would have been complete by now, so my congratulations to the PND for taking this initiative of reverse psychology, that has certainly put an end to any suggestion of such a waste of taxpayers money, at least I expect until 2011, when Jardim is still threatening to stand down. I was watching this performance in the assembly on this mornings news, and this bloke Baltasar is as nutty as the ‘Rabbit’, the man he took over from. Perhaps I should write to the PND and suggest a ‘grassy knoll’ in place of the statue? I wonder what could we call it … ‘Garden of Peace’ perhaps?

TAP will undertake one less flight to Madeira – The measure will be implemented at the end of October. The number of daily flights will reduce from 8 to 7. The company justifies the move on the basis of less demand, but has promised to reinstate the flight over Christmas and New Year. The spokesman for Portugal’s favourite airline said that the company would continue to monitor demand, and reduce or increase the number of flights accordingly. The TAP spokesman’s name is André Soares, which I thought was rather appropriate, or perhaps André Grounded would be better with this news. Hope I am not belittling anyone of that name!

Nacional without fear in Bilbau – Manuel Machado outlines target for today : "win". Nacional play their third group match tonight in the Europa League, away against Athletic Bilbao. The game starts at 6 pm, SportTV 1. Did I already mention that my soon-to-be-pal Manuel, manager of Nacional, is a frequent visitor to Ribeira Brava, and frequents the same establishment as I do. We are on greetings terms already, and I reckon it won’t be long before I will be helping pick the team at weekends.

Other headlines from today’s Diário :

São Roque ceases to have a pharmacy – The closing of the chemists in Penteada, that moved to Santo António causes protests.

Outside seating for all on the Rua Fernão Ornelas – The cafes are going to occupy part of the pavements of the city artery. The other traders agree with the option that actually will run for a period of three months. Funchal council makes the permits conditional to continuing mobility.

Mosquitoes arrive in Caniço despite of the controls.

Worse Summer for hotels closes 75% of ‘beds’ in the Winter – Three hotels in Porto Santo fight the crisis. Also on the island, the new kennels inaugurated this month don’t work.

Other top stories from yesterday’s news, many thanks to Elaine :

Reminder. Sunday October 25th is the start of official Winter time with clocks going back from 2.00 am to 1.00 am.

Risk of death uncovered. More on this story. The picnic area has been opened at Lamaceiros for five years. The area is near a deep levada for the Central Electricity Station, which is just fenced off by open-weave wooden fencing, not enough to prevent children from climbing through and falling in. A little distance away is a reservoir of several metres depth inadequately fenced off by metal railings. There are only warning signs up and a lifesaving-ring. Another danger is a PT mast which is fenced off but the door has been damaged, previously reported and will be repaired later this month. The representatives for the Electricity Board and Porto Moniz Municipality say they have not received complaints, but parents should keep an eye on their children. The future leader of the municipality prefers to keep silent on the subject, as he is not yet elected. According to the law, water tanks and reservoirs must be covered.

Trainers to prevent obesity. The Institute of Health Administration and Social Affairs (IASAÚDE) is to have a three day training course for doctors, nurses and dieticians working in primary care. Entitled  ‘Diet, Physical Activity and Obesity’, the aim is to be able to provide dietary advice to children and adults and prevent childhood obesity by being able to advise on physical activity and emotional aspects of eating behaviours. —–Two conferences for health professionals. One at Reids and one at The Vine hotels!

Gonzalez, former President of the CAPFM Cooperative to pay 400,000 Euros fine. He was leader for the co-operative for fruit producers between 1997 and 2004 and risks having to pay the fine and return to jail. In 2008, he was given a nine year prison sentence and a fine of 100 days at 15 Euros a day for bribery, misuse of subsidized credit, mismanagement, embezzlement and misuse of grant. In June this year, on appeal, the sentence was reduced to five years and a 1000 Euro fine. After disagreements with his previous lawyer, he has now appointed a new one to try and get the prison sentence suspended. He is also to pay 316,000 Euros compensation to the Autonomous Region of Madeira for the misuse of credit for restructuring the banana industry and misuse of EU subsidies to banana producers for non-standard bananas. Compensation of 2 million Euros to CAPFM for ‘frivolous’ investment of money in the stock market without authorization was reduced to 59,000 Euros.

2,000 influenza A vaccinations should arrive by the end of the month. There are presently four confirmed cases, bringing the total to 45 cases since last July. Official advice in Portugal that school children with symptoms of influenza A should spend seven days at home.

Man survives fall of 50 – 60 metres. A man in his 40s was rescued yesterday afternoon in the sítio do Lobo do Velha in Prazeres. He had fallen the previous night around 23.00 and spent the night in the river bed. For an unknown reason, he had decided to walk along a path through the pine forest despite poor visibility and could not see the danger. His family found him and alerted the services the following afternoon. The rescue took from 15.00 to 19.30, involving the Bombeiros, using mountain rescue equipment and the Forestry Police. The Emergency Medical Team gave first aid once the rescuers had reached the nearby road and it was suspected that he had a fractured leg.

PSD ‘barons’ want Jardim to continue. Jardim has previously said he would not continue beyond 2011. Miguel de Sousa says as Jardim is "effective, competent and hardworking" he need not be replaced and this is the general feeling of many of the PSD committee ‘barons’. The President of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira and personal doctor to Jardim, Miguel Mendonca, says that at 65 years of age, Jardim could carry on for another four years.

Madeira goes into debt of up to €50 million. The Government has decided to authorize short-term loans of up to €50 million to meet the requirements of the financial year 2010. They can borrow up to 35% of the revenue collected in the previous year. These have to be repaid by 31 December 2010.  Current revenues do not cover operating costs of the Government.

In the first nine months of this year, tax revenues fell 13.4% from last year, contributing to a decline of 12.8% of total revenue. Tax revenues account for 88.3% of total revenue, and the drop is due to declines in income and corporation tax and VAT.

New ‘DeBorla’ shop opening on Friday. Promoted as the ‘biggest store of utilities in the country’ with competitive prices. Items for decoration, kitchen, textiles, health, plastics, travel, DIY, pet shop, fishing, sports, beach, camping, gardening, electrical, school supplies, car accessories and toys will  be on sale in the new 2,000 square metre shop in Cancela. Inaugurated by Jardim on Thursday at 18.00 and open to the public from Friday and everyday from 10.00 to 20.00. The group has been trading since 1999 and has 19 other stores in Portugal and the Azores. —– It is part of the Brandimport building which is a drinks storage depot, on the Estrada do Garajau, near the slip road to the expressway to Funchal. I shall of course be paying a visit. De Borla = free, but somehow I don’t think so. Der

Reminder that the ‘Market Opportunities’ in Avenida Arriaga, Funchal opens Friday at 16.30  and will run until 29 October. 49 stalls of clothing, footwear, furnishings etc. at more attractive prices than in the shops.

ACIF are planning Christmas Exponatal 2009 where you receive a voucher for each 20 Euros or more spent on an item  in a participating store and the raffle is drawn at the traditional market night on 23rd. December. Prizes are a car and a shopping basket containing 50 Euros worth of goods.

Funchal might have a fairground park in Almirante Reis, near the Monte cable car for Christmas.

Wines&Spirits Madeira 2009 will have over 300 wines. More than 50 wine producers and over 300 wines at the event. Recognized chefs from hotels in Madeira and the Continent will give demonstrations. Workshops on cooking with oil, chocolate, coffee and wine tasting. It is held from Friday, 6 November – Sunday, 8 November at the Congress Centre, Casino Park Hotel, from 15.00 to 21.00.

"Portugal still aimlessly in debt, without competitive ability and widespread unemployment". Due to re-elections of the Socialist Party in Portugal, according to Tranquada Gomes, deputy of  the PSD. In contrast, the PSD in Madeira investing in large projects is "an elixir of redeeming all our ills," but the big question relates to our ability to pay interest on the debt incurred.

The PSD had a protest vote against the Regional Commander of the PSP for not acting enough during the pre-election disturbances. The opposing political parties expressed themselves against the vote, Joao Gouveia (PS) saying that "what the PND did in the election campaign was commendable" and the PCP left the chamber during discussions of the vote. Special news on the police command, probably tomorrow … don’t miss it! Der

Regional Finance Law revision passed. There was a surprise when the PS voted for the bill to revise the law. The original law was passed in 2007 and during 2007 and 2009, it is thought to have lost  Madeira 200 million Euros. The law concerns the transfer of money from the Portugal state to Madeira and the Azores.

People walking and jogging in the new cycle path. Complaint in Diário Cidade on Tuesday. Despite a large enough pedestrian area by it. —- Tourists are included in the complaint. Is it well sign-posted and do the cyclists use it?

Inaugurations by Jardim are still in need of  work. A week and a half after the elections, D. Cidade have noticed some projects inaugurated by Jardim in Funchal and Câmara de Lobos still needing intervention.  In two months, he carried out 60 inaugurations costing 215 million Euros, for his election campaign. Examples are the Avenida do Amparo linking Cota 200 to Estrada Monumental, and the Porto do Funchal / via-rápida link tunnel.

Quercus complain that the expansion of the power station will start before environmental impact is known. The environmental group admit the need for an increase in power production but work should not begin in defiance of the law. The station is Vitoria, near the mouth of the Ribeira dos Socorridos.

Travel news. TAP will fly one less flight per day from Madeira, from the end of October, except over Christmas and New Year. There might be a weekly flight to Estonia. Sorry Elaine, slight overlap there! Der

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(27th September). Today’s main news headline ‘Abuse Of Minors At Home – Growing with an abuser : it is the drama of children at the mercy of close relatives that exercise the crimes in the secrecy of their homes. But also there are false accusations in cases of litigious divorce’. Sub headline : ‘When the enemy lives inside the house’. There are dozens of cases of sexual abuse of children every year in the Family Court. The abuser is nearly always a relative or neighbour. Most of the victims are girls aged between 7 and 12, with the abusers being men. A father, stepfather, an uncle or neighbour, but the story is always terrible and scars for life. On Madeira the cases exposed mostly involve children in unstructured and poor families, although it happens in all the social classes. I don’t want to read the article any further, but I am sure that gives a gist of the problem, albeit probably unwanted. I have heard the matter talked about, and even know a victim (who is definitely scarred), and back then it was almost a part of life for some. At least now some of these cases do get exposed, and there is something the kids can do, that’s if they have the courage to face the consequences.

‘Elevator Of Fajã Fell With 17 People On Board – A cable came loose and two people were injured after a 50 metre fall, until the the safety [brake?] mechanism was activated’. The two injured foreigners were taken to hospital, with one said to be "serious", after the accident in Fajã dos Padres. The lift was on the way up when the cable ‘came loose’. Both tourists were released from hospital later, one suffered an exposed fracture to a hand, the other with chest pains. How terrifying! That lift is the one west of Cabo Girão, and the total height of the glass lift ride according to one source I found is 250 metres, one of the highest in Europe. I contemplated going on it a few years ago, but chickened out having arrived there.

‘Line Continues In Order To Narrow The Street – Câmara de Lobo tries to avoid returning €2.1 million to the EU’. One white line that saves the council €2m, but it is not yet certain the solution found by the council will be accepted by Europe. This story has been batted around for months and months, but it may be that finally it is resolved. EU funding was granted for a agricultural road in Limoeiro, a road that should be around 4 metres wide. The council then built a road 5.5 metres wide, that did not qualify for the funding, and it had to be returned, as the council decided it was out of the question to narrow the road. Some bright spark then had the idea of making a 1.5 metre strip down one side, and reserving the lane for pedestrians, a sort of pavement. The remaining road is then 4 metres, and therefore qualifies. Well that’s the theory, but the road isn’t then really wide enough for two cars to pass, so one will end up driving on the ‘pavement’. If the European bureaucrats were stupid enough to be conned out of XXX’s of millions for other scams and white elephants by Madeira, no doubt this will be another con to add to the list. As you may have gathered, and I am taking the side of the taxpayer on this one, as clearly the original application was a con … does that look like a farm track in the photo?

‘Medicines Are More Expensive In Portugal – Electronic prescriptions will save the state €55 million a year’. More than half the medicines sold in Portugal and Madeira have a higher price than in other countries in southern Europe. It is estimated that 61% of medicines are more expensive here than in France, Spain, Italy and Greece. However, the good news is that we receive a good service in our 63 pharmacies. An ageing population means that our pharmacies are going to get busier in the future years. The new electronic prescription system mentioned cannot be introduced yet, as the law needs to be changed for data protection purposes. Can’t argue about the service in the pharmacies that I have used, it has always been excellent, despite the language difficulties I used to have. I even took a stray dog into my local chemist once, and they dealt with her very efficiently, although they didn’t offer any assistance in administering the treatment. I propose a round of applause for our excellent pharmacists at 5 pm this afternoon, anyone joining me?

For those who were miffed or inconvenienced during the TAP strike, and feel a grudge toward the airline, this might sway ones opinion. The pilots already earn an average of €8,600 a month, and are looking for a rise to take them to €9,600.

‘DECO Fail Fresh And Frozen Duck – Serious lapses in hygiene and storage result in a poor classification of the product’. 12 types of pre-packaged and frozen were tested, and found to be defective, mainly through lack of freshness in the innards. All the fresh and frozen products were failed as "unacceptable" by the consumer defence organisation.

A 59 year old man has died from his injuries in hospital. It seems that he fell 10 metres off a wall in Tendeira in Caniço.

‘Super São Roque And Sá Lead In The Low Prices – A study by DECO [consumer protection] analysed 70,000 prices for 181 products throughout Portugal’. Super São Roque and the Sá supermarkets in Santa Cruz, Ribeira Brava and São Martinho came out top on Madeira. One ‘basket’ contained 100 products for those who liked branded products, the other ‘basket’ contained 81 items for low budget customers. Santa Cruz Sá came out overall top, with São Roque in equal second place, but offers the cheapest shopping in Funchal. As for the most expensive, amongst others are the Pingo Doces in Anadia (Funchal) and Dolce Vita, and one of the Modelo stores came out badly as well. The analysis of data collected by DECO show that the savings in your shopping cart can reach €940 [a year?] without having to travel long distances and without cutting the list of products required. I am very surprised that my local Hiper Sá scored so highly. I will have to start going there again and see what the difference is after I switched last year. Anyway, that may be my last blog money saving tip, and may you save €€€’s until the next survey next year.

The ferry company Naveira Armas, that operates the services between Madeira and Portugal, is to put itself forward as a candidate to operate a ferry service for the Azores.

Marítimo lost 2 – 1 at home against Naval yesterday : ‘New Setback Intensifies Challenge For Carvalhal’.

‘Day To Choose Representatives – 260 thousand Madeiran voters elect today the six deputies that will represent Madeira in Lisbon. There are 12 parties and movements in total running in the legislative elections’. Another article I am going to skip, as it’s just churning over old ground. The c.250 ‘urns’ in 52 parishes opened at 8 am today. They will close at 7 pm, and the first projections are expected an hour later.

‘European experts monitor elections on Madeira – Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe come to see if the elections are ‘clean’. Two observers from the OSCE are here to make sure that there is no monkey business going on. The observers are from Armenia and Bosnia, and have already made contact with the party leaders, candidates, representatives of the state, and journalists. The politicians and parties have also been forbidden from doing any campaigning or carry out any activities relating to the local elections on 11th October, until tomorrow that is.

Something I didn’t realise until now, that if there should be a change of government after today, it should be able to begin it’s functions at the end of October. However, the Assembly of the Republic cannot be dissolved until March 2010.

I can’t believe I have managed to get through the complete Diário today before midday, less than 3 hours. All the reporters must be out on election duty. Looks like I will have a bit of free time to skulk around the local polling stations this afternoon and mingle with the crowds. I may have a look at the Jornal later on, but there again maybe not.