Precautions For Valuables ; Soup Fair ; Santo da Serra Reignites ; 14 ‘Runners’ In A Week
(14th June). Today’s main news headline : ‘Suspicious Promotions – Gabriel Farinha goes back to rewarding workers. At the end of his term, the councillor of Porto Moniz nominates an assistant in his office and two secretaries to be councillors’. The president of Porto Moniz for 8 years has an assistant, and the two full time councillors both have secretaries, paid for by the locals.
The main picture on the front page shows a forlorn looking lonely soul stood outside a closed church : ‘Lacking People In Fajã – The youngsters flee from farming. Fajã de Ovelha is an aged parish’. This is the Diário’s featured village of the week. Despite being a sought after place by tourists and locals, the youngsters can’t wait to get away from a life in agriculture, or just to find work elsewhere. One resident there for 40 years says "It is a quiet calm and safe place, but it only comes alive during the week with visits from many tourists, and on Saturdays and Sundays, with visitors normally from outside, that come from Funchal to the houses that they built for days of rest. Most houses are empty or belong to immigrants, or are weekend homes". Many people have emigrated, and those who live there with businesses are generally poor people. There is a lot of abandoned agricultural land there, because there is nobody is left to tend it. People feel that the area lacks a supermarket, and the local church seems doomed to be abandoned, but they enjoy the feeling of security in the area with very few crimes to complain about.
‘Register The Gold – Police Advice : Articles of value kept at home should be photographed. If they are stolen, they act as proof’. The Public Security Police are also recommending that valuables are given identifying marks, such as the initials of a family member, or a date of birth. The police say it will help them return objects to their owners when stolen property is recovered, with jewellery and gold on top of the priority list. It also gives the police undeniable proof that items recovered were stolen, and that can be used in evidence against the person responsible. TVs, DVD players, and computers should also be marked. Criminals may also be deterred if they know homeowners are marking their property, and also people who buy stolen goods (breaking the law in the process) may think twice about doing so. All makes sense of course, but it’s a bit of a sad thing to hear it officially announced on this island that was once renowned for the lack of crimes of this nature.
Yesterday saw the opening of the ‘Feira das Sopas do Campo’ (Country Soup Fair) in Boaventura. In all around 30 soups are available, made and served by various institutions and bars in the area, for the approval of visitors. It continues today with other delicacies and great musical entertainment.
In the space of just a week, 14 drivers involved in car accidents fled the scene before the arrival of the police, hence avoiding showing their documentation and committing an offence punishable by law. Normally it happens just a couple of times a week. The police commissioner, when asked why last week had so many cases, replied that the possible cause was drink driving or having no driving licence. He said all the cases were being following up.
The big forest fire mentioned yesterday that started Friday afternoon in Santo da Serra, was actually extinguished at around 8am the following morning. However, not long after mid-day it reignited, and Santa Cruz firemen had to return for another 8 hour endurance test. I saw another 3 reports of fires in similar situations mentioned in today’s newspaper.
