Madeira News Blog » machico

Myth unnailed ; Madeira clean-up ; Cops pay for injured robbers ; "It was a wet February …"

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:00:00 +0000

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Tom … Vintage hidden view point on St. Luiza street behind house # 152. No one knows about it I guess (the correct photo this time, but I bet no one noticed except Tom)

Many thanks to Becky for these two videos :

I’m sure you must have seen this footage of a base jumper hurling himself off Cabo Girão on a motorbike, as it’s from 2006, but I hadn’t seen it before and having recently stood at the viewing point of Cabo Girão, it has made me feel a little queasy … just the thought of it (and what a waste of a motorbike, too!)

Some great footage of someone’s day trip to Madeira (hang on, a day trip?!) in January 2010, with a Levada walk to Queimadas, Caldeirão Verde.

Thanks a lot to Paul for these three pieces :

Should we go to Madeira? The UK Daily Telegraph, 12 March 2010: Pat Dawson, from Bath, writes : "We have booked a week’s holiday in Funchal, Madeira, starting on March 23 but it’s difficult to discover what the situation is after the terrible floods. We are reluctant to cancel as we know how much the island depends on tourism, but if the centre of Funchal is cordoned off and most of the excursions aren’t running, is it worth going? We have booked independently so we can cancel our hotel up to seven days beforehand, but we would forfeit the flight".

Gill Charlton replies : In response to the many emails we have received from readers, Telegraph Travel sent Louise Roddon to Madeira this week to assess the damage. Link to Louise Roddon article. She discovered that the capital, Funchal, has recovered remarkably quickly, while areas in the interior, such as Ribeira Brava, have borne the brunt of the landslides. The island’s famous gardens and levada walks are almost all open, as the clean-up effort continues in earnest." The Telegraph, 12 March 2010

Support for Madeira from the American Senate, Washington. “Senator Kerry said the state of Massachusetts stands proud of its long-standing historical ties to the people of Madeira. "With their seafaring and cultural traditions, Portuguese-Americans have en-riched the Bay State beyond measure," he said. "I am fortunate to be married to a woman who takes great pride in her Portuguese heritage. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Madeira as they work to overcome this disaster and rebuild their island paradise."

Photo : Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts

Sen. Brown reminded how a tragedy like the one occurred in Madeira can reveal the strength of the bonds that exist within communities.

"In this case, the bonds are very strong as Massachusetts owes a good deal of its history to the contributions of Portuguese-Americans," he said. "We offer thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, and our full support in their time of need."

Sen. Reed said U.S. officials continue to work to ensure the safety and well being of about 400 U.S. citizens on the island.” Link to full article

Archaeologists declare nail a ‘fantasy’ crucifixion-relic. "AN ARCHAEOLOGIST who identified a first-century Roman nail, which has been claimed as a possible holy relic kept by the Knights Templar in Madeira, said last week that it could not possibly have been used in a crucifixion."

Elaine found a couple of articles in The Portugal News Online:

Government measures welcomed. Prime Minister José Sócrates was this week the recipient of unprecedented praise as he unveiled a host of measures to quell fears Portugal could follow in Greece’s footsteps and further undermine confidence in the financial stability of the Euro Zone and its members. HERE

Guess what? It was a wet February, says Met Office. Data from the IM shows that large quantities of rain fell last month, particularly in Madeira, where average daily quotas of rain were between 144.3 millilitres (on February 20th) and 129 millilitres (February 2nd), in Funchal. HERE

Diário today repeated this article but added that Funchal had 3% more visits and 8% more passengers in transit (yearly total of 435,821). Portugal sets new record for number of cruise ship visitors. Last year cruise ships brought a record-breaking number of passengers to Portugal, setting a new high after more than 940,000 tourists disembarked from their liners at a Portuguese port. HERE

Tess emailed with this, thanks : "A few days back you had a feature on the blog about UK company ‘Naturetrek’ promoting a whale-watching holiday to Madeira. This was also featured in the Travel Section of last Saturday’s UK Guardian under recommended family activity breaks in Europe. A 5-day holiday joining a team of marine biologists for daily whale & dolphin watching trips on a privately chartered vessel costing from £895 inclusive of flights, transfers, accommodation, most meals, boat trips & guiding. Seems that the UK papers are doing their bit to get the tourists coming back. Fantastic!" TESS’S BLOG

Many thanks for those Elaine and once again for yesterday’s top news stories :

DIÁRIO 13/03/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Police officers have to pay hospital charges for treating offenders. Police officers are being notified by the Hospital of Funchal to pay the cost of medical care of individuals with whom they have engaged in physical confrontation while working for the police service. The president of their union said this is unique in the country and is "absurd and unacceptable". The bill for medical treatment is sent to those whom the victim perceives to be the perpetrator of the aggression. 98% of notifications are not paid and the health service resorts to litigation procedures. The police are taking their case to the national director of the police force.

MADEIRA

Santa Cruz seeks justice in resettlement. Delays in the relocation of 51 homeless families in Santa Cruz is intentional and designed to avoid situations of injustice among the population in need. This is the conclusion drawn from words spoken by the Deputy Mayor of Santa Cruz. "We could have already relocated all the families but they would be more satisfied if they were in other areas. We have talked to the homeless on the situation and they all prefer to be resettled in their parish of residence. We do not rehouse the families from Santo da Serra in Funchal." "The Council has made every effort so people can return to their homes, but this was only possible in cases that just required clearing the access or the threat of landslides." In total, 12 families have been resettled and the five who remain in shelters should be relocated next week. The number of homeless families in Santa Cruz decreased from 83 to 63 this past week. 12 of these are related to the housing recovery project, leaving a total of 51 requiring permanent accommodation.

Caracas reunion of 600 people for Madeira. More than 600 people attended the Thursday evening party of solidarity (vinhada) in Caracas for the victims of the storms in Madeira. The organizers are counting on the support of the Venezuelan authorities, taking into account the system of exchange controls in force in the country that prevent freely obtaining foreign currency. If the money is transferred at the official exchange rate, it will be worth three times as much (in Euros) than at the unofficial market rate. It helps that the Venezuelan Government understands the great need of Madeira at the moment. —Hugo Chavez offered help to the Regional Government but I never found out if they took up the offer, so I presume they did not.

AJAMPS gave a homeless baby a surprise. The Young Entrepreneurs of Madeira and Porto Santo (AJAMPS) surprised Letícia Oriana on her first birthday with birthday cakes and a performance by clowns. The family were made homeless after the storm of February 20th and are staying at a Youth Hostel. They lived with their grandmother near Trapice in Santo António, Funchal. The house accommodated six people and sustained considerable damage and the ceilings are at risk of falling down. The 57 displaced people staying in the hostel were invited to lunch and dinner paid for by AJAMPS. Contributions were from members, friends and businesses and the vice president said it was rewarding to see these people smile.

Penalties in civil service affect region. Government employees in Madeira did not join the nationwide strike on March 4th, due to the recent disaster that hit the region. The Stability and Growth Pact passed by the Portuguese Government applies to civil servants in Madeira. Measures introduced to decrease the budget deficit are: freezing of wages; increased taxes on income over 150,000 Euros; retirement age increased from 62.5 to 63 and to 65 in 2012/2013; for early retirement the penalty increases from 4.5% to 6% of pension for each year. The latter measure was envisaged for 2015 but has been brought forward to 2010. The autonomies have some power to mitigate some of the points in question but the regional governments have not expressed an intention to reverse these national rules.

Madeirans complain more. The Serviço de Defesa do Consumidor (SDC) has been in greater demand by local people. Last year they received 624 complaints, far more than the 467 in 2008. In 2009, SDC responded to 4,398 requests, of which 3,774 were for information. The remaining 624 cases were complaints that centred around: movable property (208), real estate (108), banks and finance companies (93), essential services (90), transport (47), tourism and leisure (22), distance selling (21) and insurance (16). More people (1,068) needed debt counselling and information before using credit. 104 cases involved arbitration. They can also resolve complaints from citizens of other European countries who purchase goods or services from entities located in the region.

POLITICS

Solidarity in London unites mayor and Albuquerque. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and Miguel Albuquerque, the Mayor of Funchal are the leading players in a day of solidarity for Madeira, which takes place on Saturday March 27th in London. A fundraising dinner for 800 diners in Earls Court is the primary activity of a day that will also have other events with a single objective; raising money for authorities and institutions that are spearheading the reconstruction of affected areas and supporting people affected by the floods. The dinner is in the Ibis Hotel in Earls Court, one of the most prestigious in London. The Madeiran businessman José Silva has organized the events after being contacted by a group of friends in London. All the local Portuguese community organizations and the Ambassador and Consulate of Portugal in London have been directly involved. Other fundraising events are: raffles, auctions and other similar activities; contributions from individuals and large companies; contact with the media and exclusive interviews with Sky News and Sky Sports are being negotiated to highlight the cause. The President of CS Marítimo will be present, along with other sporting personalities who will be announced soon. Entertainment at the dinner event is provided by Maria Aurora from the program ‘Atlântida’ presented by RTP-Internacional, and possibly Madeira’s celebrity singer Vânia Fernandes will attend.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Users want Lido ready for Summer – Even without the swimming pool, the bathing complex is in the Summer projects. But Funchal Council does not guarantee reopening, even partial. Come rain or shine, Summer or Winter, the weekends are not the same without a trip to the Lido bathing complex. The destruction caused by the storm does not deter the regulars at the Lido complex, remaining faithful to the location, at least whilst the beach remains open. The restoration works needed will mean the closure of the complex, which is not going down well with some regulars, who want the sea access to remain open, and other spaces left open, with just the pool closed. I have to say that this ‘statement’ from the Diário took opinions from just a handful of people who frequent the facility at Lido, and is hardly representative of many thousands of people who at the moment have far more important and complex priorities.

Today’s main news headline : Stone of the storms causes row – Santa Costa ordered the taking of stones from the storm torrents to the marina at Lugar de Baixo. Then, he retreated, the president of Ribeira Brava appearing in the confusion. The question persists : the stone is being given or sold?

One doesn’t mess with nature – The alert comes from Segadães Tavares, an engineer that has received awards, by the way of the destruction of February, for example with the bridges. "That what is cheap ends up expensive", he reminds. Accompanied by a picture of the bridge over the Ribeira Brava, in the process of being pulled down after the February stone damage. It’s about time someone with credibility came along and said this. A few days after the storm that caused so much death and destruction, President Jardim was quoted in the media [I can't remember the exact words, but this is close enough] … "We have been hit by nature before, and come back to win, and we will do so again". What sort of message does that send to a population who look to Jardim for leadership, and even sensible advice? Everyone with their head screwed on knows that you don’t mess with nature, you work in harmony and within constraints … that is if you want to avoid problems in the future of course.

Beneficiaries of social integration growing – In just one year, the social security payments increased to take in another 1,277 claimants. Today the total is 8,122. The beneficiaries of this social support received, on average, just €92.81 in January, a little below the national average. The growth in the claimants shown is from December 2008 to December 2009. The number of claimants has been growing since 2005, except for a slight exception in 2008. The true number of poor people who need this support is not discussed, as not everybody qualifies of course, but there are I know many many more worthy cases than stated in the headline figure from the Social Security report.

Storm confuses the strategy of [Jacinto] Serrão – Leader of the socialist party of Madeira believes that it is possible to beat Jardim.

Jardim considers that the extraordinary convention "is not going to get anywhere". In the week that precedes the direct [leadership] elections Jardim is going to get together with the PSD party activists in all the regions of Madeira.

The main sports / football headline today : Wave of red invades the Choupana [the stadium of Nacional] this afternoon – Nacional hosts the league leaders in a stadium where one foresees a clear majority of Benfica supporters. L.F. Vieira promises housing to some families made homeless by the bad weather.

Many thanks to Elaine (West) for this piece from today’s Jornal da Madeira:

“Help for Madeira” in Machico Forum. On Saturday, April 20 there will be a solidarity show entitled "Help Madeira” in Machico Forum. The event, organized by the Council of Machico, is aimed at raising revenue to help in the reconstruction of Madeira. Beginning at 20.30, the show will feature several figures and prominent guests in the field of regional music and, in particular, of the county.

The programme includes performances by Vânia Fernandes (closing the show), Pedro Garcia and Sara Cooper, former competitors from "A Song For You", the group Flores de Maio, Claudia Nobrega, São de Leste, the Grupo de Fados de Machico, the “tuna” of the Banda Municipal de Machico / Casa do Povo of Machico, Amigos da Música/De Passagem, Prestige Dance, Metamorfose, Nuno Nicolau, Folk Group of Machico, among others. The show is expected to last about three hours.Tickets are on sale from the Freguesia in Machico and at the Machico Forum priced ten Euros.

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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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. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and other material.

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The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

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Funchal flooding by night ; Road closures around Madeira ; Best way to make donations?

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:00:00 +0000

Today’s photo – Many thanks to … Bird : "I guess each of these has its point. My own preference is for no. 3, which has some drama but is technically imperfect (one does not run around with a tripod in disaster areas). For those that prefer poetry, there is no. 4 ("The Avenida do Mar, well named"). But it’s all up to you" … Bird. Many thanks Bird, I think they are all shocking but impressive, and I presume were taken last weekend before dawn … your first name isn’t ‘Early’ by any chance?

I hope we can all wake up this morning and find that all the worry of yesterday has passed, or is passing at least. People were really concerned about the forecast for heavy rain last night, I even saw shops closing early and using primitive means to protect their premises from further flooding. Der.

Many thanks to Becky for these two cheerier videos :

Bailhinho da Madeira.

Impressions of Madeira. Footage taken in February 2010, which I expected to be completely rain-soaked, but it finally ends in sunshine looking down on Curral das Freiras from Eira do Serrado.

Tobi kindly sent this in : "I have recorded the BBC Radio 4 interview" HERE Brave man Tobi, I just hope that Sam doesn’t mind, and no one else ends up in the water.

I was sent this by email : "My husband and I have been visiting Madeira two or three times each year since 1990. We have Madeiran Godchildren and a Madeiran family. This beautiful island is our second home. We are devastated by this tragedy but know Madeira will rebuild and survive and become beautiful again.

Our first visit to Madeira in August 1990 was because I had undergone emergency eye surgery in May of that year and, once recovered, I made the decision to only look at beautiful things because I had almost lost my sight. Madeira was my choice of "viewing" and it has never, ever, disappointed me. We had our silver wedding anniversary celebration in the English Church in 1998 and have attended the baptism and confirmation of our Godchildren in Câmara de Lobos.

I only wish I knew how to help the Madeiran people who have lost their homes and livelihoods and relatives. I shall ask the Side-by-Side people in Jersey if I can help through them". Roslyn (full name supplied) England.

Thank you Roslyn … if you want to make a financial donation, there are several routes, covered on this blog during this week, and more. I cannot tell you which is the best route, but maybe some people who have already given could post comments today on their opinions, particularly regarding currency, ease of use, and what are the more official, fast, and direct channels of giving.

This weekends football : Somehow it doesn’t seem right to be talking about football, but life must go on, and maybe a little distraction will do some good in such a distressing week. Anyway, as I have no news to the contrary, I assume that the planned fixtures are being played. First up are Marítimo at 4 pm this afternoon, with an away game at Naval, just 4 points behind our lads. Nacional host bottom club Belenenses on Monday night. 8.15 pm on SportTV1. Belenenses have won just one game in the 20 played so far this season. Top game this weekend is tomorrow night, when Sporting, buoyant after giving Everton a bit of a whipping in the Europa League this week, host Porto. It’s on SportTV1 at 8.15 pm.

Many thanks to Elaine (out West) for this piece from the Diário :

Roads closed around the island. The most complicated situations are those in Meia Légua, Serra da Agua and also Tabua. Several roads remain closed after the storm last Saturday. The west is the most affected, but there is also prohibited or conditional access elsewhere in the region. According to information provided by the Regional Secretariat for Social Affairs Bureau, the following roads in the west are closed: ER 101 (10), between Madalena do Mar and Ponta do Sol, ER 104 between Serra d’Agua and Meia Légua, ER 105 from Boca da Encumeada to Estanquinhos, ER 222, which connects Sítio da Santinha to Ponte, ER 223 at the descent from Jardim do Mar to Estreito da Calheta, ER 227 in Ribeira da Tabua, and ER 229 which connects Lugar da Ribeira (Ponte) to Campanário.

Also still closed are the ER 101 at Caminho dos Pretos (Funchal) and between Ponta Delgada and Boaventura. In addition there are some roads where traffic is restricted. These are the ER 102 between Camacha and Santo da Serra, the RE 103 from Monte to Poiso, and the ER 107, which connects Romeiras to the Nuns’ Valley. The Bureau also draws the attention of motorists to the fact that, while open, the roads should be used with great caution because some have not yet been thoroughly cleaned.

Elaine (out East) is back after a long loss of internet … hurrah … many thanks for these news stories.

DIÁRIO 26/02/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Jardim spoke with Barroso – 1.3 billion Euros in damages. Funding will be made at three levels: Europe, State and the Region. The balance is not finalised and losses are guaranteed to be more than 1.3 billion Euros. This figure will be explained to the European Commission at two different levels. First, the banks and the mouths of the most dangerous streams have been destroyed, and the added water transported thousands of cubic metres of gravel and mud, weakened the beds and leaves a threat in the air in case of new rainfall. With more than 100 km of regional roads, which join all of the municipal roads, partially or totally damaged, reconstruction also involves the consolidation of slopes to prevent new landslides. At least three bridges have fallen, their reconstruction involves a large investment or alternative newer safer trajectories constructed. The inventory of damage is still being produced, involving the municipal councils, the Estradas da Madeira and departments of the Regional Government. Jardim will then send this to Brussels along with two Regional ministers. The Council of Funchal has advanced a loss of 140 million Euros for trade and more than 100 million Euros for municipal roads and other structures. This does not include money for intervention in the streams and help required for reconstruction of habitation for those who have lost their houses. Some areas need to construct new infrastructures, for example a new tunnel at Santa de Água will cost 60 million Euros. At the second level, Madeira will have to rebuild newer and safer accessibility and residential areas. There has been major destruction in Serra de Água, Tabua, Funchal, Santa Cruz as well as other counties. The funding will come through grants and lines of credit. The decisive factor may be changing the rules applied by the European Parliament by Portuguese deputies, suggesting a reprogramming of funds from the European Cohesion Fund, European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund on a basis of rapid and simplified procedures making advance payments wherever possible.

MADEIRA

Quercus challenge people to speak. The environmental association Quercus published today on the Internet portal a document listing 22 failures in the organization and planning of the territory, ‘Aluvião no Funchal, 20 de Fevereiro de 2010, o que ajudou que tudo corresse mal?’ Over the past 14 years, the association has pointed out errors and recommendations for risk prevention. In 2003, their Study on the Streams traced the history of landslides and mudslides and recommended measures to prevent them. It is now time for the community to speak about what they saw, whether this is down to extreme nature, climate change or other factors. Using a map of Funchal, they have outlined the three clogged and flooded watercourses and want this to be a starting point of a document for the Public Ministry.

Two more dead in the rubble at Ribeira Brava. Five dead, two missing and 102 homeless in this county. The two missing bodies that were found yesterday are thought to belong to a family of seven from Pomar de Rocha and the only survivor has had at least one limb amputated. The elderly woman was found in the interior of the residence and the child lying in the bottom of the valley, near the Meia Légua tunnel, just inside the perimeter of the Centro Desportivo da Madeira. The mayor admits there may be more victims in the county, especially along the expressway of Serra de Água which was engulfed by flood waters. The quality of the water supply is poor in the West of Ribeira Brava, especially in Tabua and Banda d`Além. The most troublesome area for the water supply is Serra de Água and Ribeira da Tabua as the only supply to this isolated area has been broken. There are noticeable differences day to day in the county despite setbacks like craters appearing in roads. About 100 homes were inundated, 30 badly damaged and eight levadas flooded in Serra D´Água last Saturday. The population in the areas most affected, Travessa, Quebrada, Romeira and other areas, are returning to normal life but still express fears.

57 landslides in one day. On Saturday, in the peak of the rainfall, between nine and eleven o’clock in the morning, there were 57 landslides in the county of Funchal. São Martinho was the parish least affected whereas Santo António, a highly populated area, was one of the parishes with the most number of victims. The map also shows the number of trees that have been planted in an attempt to prevent flooding. But the process of reforestation was severely affected by years of drought between 2002 and 2005. There is no deadline for completion of the clean up work in Funchal, the machines still clearing the three streams. From Ribeira de São João, three to four tons of stones have been removed, The clearance work is difficult by Marina Shopping and Minas Gerais. It would have been easier to demolish the roundabout – Rotunda do Infante – but the council decided to make a hole in the concrete in this area and this has delayed the work by a day. In the area of Ribeira de João Gomes, the critical points are the Campo da Barca and the Oudinet building. The petrol station has been demolished and will not be rebuilt. At Praia Formosa, there have been 2,250 truck loads dumped, retrieved from the streams and lower Funchal. Link to the map.

Carreiros resume activity in Monte. The wicker basket rides down from Monte to Funchal will resume today. The problems in the final area of Livramento should be resolved today. There are 130 men involved in this type of work and they are wanting to resume as it is their life. Confident of help from Nossa Senhora do Monte because this could have been worse. One of the men, a 39 year old, has lost his house and is residing with his unemployed wife and two children at accommodation of the Scouts in Monte. One of the things he saved from the house was his costume for the work – white dress and straw hat – a tourist symbol for more than 200 years.

ECONOMY

Supermarkets keeping prices the same. Food prices will not increase following the disaster. Prices are the same throughout the country at Pingo Doce. The company, Grupo Jerónimo Martins, has contracts that ensure fixed prices throughout the year. Modelo will keep the prices the same to help Madeirans in their hour of greatest difficulty. Grupo Sá will not alter prices to ensure the security and peace of Madeirans. Only 15% of their products are local so they will not have to increase prices with agricultural produce affected by the rain.

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

REGION

Santa Cruz notes extensive damage. Contrary to what may seem by the near silence of the media, the county of Santa Cruz has been hit hard by the storm. 19 houses need total reconstruction, 33 are in need of work and 12 need stabilization work. Some households had to be evacuated as the area was dangerous and there are 184 homeless people (67 households). The mayor asks the population in Gaula and Camacha not to over consume water now the supply has been re-established after a break in the tunnel at Porto Novo. Camacha was the area most damaged by the storm as there has been a high level of rainfall since the beginning of the year, resulting in landslides.

Machico estimate three million Euros loss. Several shops and houses were flooded with water and mud. In the zone of Caramanchão, a dozen hoses were affected by flooding. Many walls and public areas have to be replaced and traffic routes cleaned.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Solidarity with artists and sportsmen – After the support announced by Benfica and Porto, Sporting keeps it [gate?] receipts for Madeira. Marco Polo and Maria da Fé on the list for a concert / show in Funchal on 6th March.

Survivor from Pomar [da Rocha] doesn’t want to return home – The two sisters succumb to the storm, in Arco da Calheta, and José Guarnel is traumatised. Dramas throughout the island.

Today’s main news headline : State and European Union guarantee €500 million. The EU guarantees just €44 million from the ‘lost fund’. Well short of the €1.4 billion needed to rebuild Madeira according to yesterdays news, and that figure is creeping up by the day.

Barroso visits Madeira on the 12th of March. The (Portuguese) European Commissioner is going to pay us a visit. An interesting question as to whether his roots will ensure he cuts Madeira the best possible aid deal, or will he aim to be seen as impartial and hence rather cold to a tragedy at home.

Lisbon will take on a loan of €240 million and the transfer of another €200 million.

The Madeira Government announced €20 million grant for affected traders.

Councils exempt citizens and businesses from IMI.

The main photo today is accompanied by the headline : Rumours make nervous and empty Funchal. The rumours were back on the attack during the day yesterday, consisting of false orders for the evacuation of the capital up until 18.00 hours. Later, the Civil Protection came forward to correct the ‘alarm’ situation, such as Meteorology did with a ‘hurricane’ [rumour ?]. But in the meantime there were citizens fleeing, and shops and services rushing to close early. Much the same over my way in Ribeira Brava, with shops and businesses closing early, and hasty attempts at waterproofing premises against further water damage. By 9.30 pm last night, before even a gust of wind or a droplet of precipitation, the place was a ghost town. All (so far) unwarranted, as after a night of on and off winds and rain, a nice sunny day has appeared. River levels are low, although there was a very small flash flood not long before midnight. There are reports on the radio this morning about damage caused by the very strong winds.

The latest information given yesterday was that the depression did not put the island at risk, however calling for caution in the early morning.

20 families evacuated as a precaution.

Meeting between Sócrates and Jardim is already scheduled for Monday – There will be a summit between central and regional government in order to work out the support from the state for Madeira, in the succession of the storms. [Prime Minister] Sócrates and [Finance Minister] Teixeira dos Santos are available. Jardim (who yesterday was checked out in hospital following an ailment) says he is confident.

In Funchal, [Miguel] Alburquerque continues summarising the effects of the storm, despite of the ‘insinuations’.

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.

BY EMAIL : News from Prazeres to Riviera Brava : Update on conditions from Prazeres to Ribeira Brava this morning (Saturday). The roads are OK but care is needed as there are large rocks at the side of the roads. Madalena do Mar has appeared to have lost the bridge at the end of the river, so the walk way down the front has collapsed. Diggers are at present removing a large amount of debris from this area.

At the roundabout at Tabua there are diggers removing very large boulders that cover the road up to Tabua, some as large as 5ft in diameter.

Some more of the wall at Lugar de Baixo has given way with huge waves crashing over the other parts, the area around the pool is unrecognisable, it is littered with debris. The road down has had another rock fall.

The roads from Paul da Serra to Canhas, Prazeres and Arco da Calheta are passable with care, as the rock falls and trees have yet to be cleared from the side of the roads.

Regards. Selina. Many thanks Selina, lots more news on damage overnight coming through on the news.

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.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira bird-watching ; Euro interest rate held at 1% ; How to make a Poncha stick video

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:00:00 +0000

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Rita … "More dark satanic mountains!"

Thanks a lot for Becky for coming up with a few more web snippets (videos) for our enjoyment :

"A few more for you…. I would love to be able to help out on a more permanent basis, as you were asking for help the other day. My only problem is that I’m freelance so sometimes I’m busy, sometimes not. Just going into 4 months of very long days, so I know I won’t be able to offer on a regular basis yet, but will help where I can Der". Many thanks Becky, some nice videos. I am still hoping that someone else will come forward to help with these snippets.

Machico Antigamente (and some nice music to accompany it):

It seems a lot of effort to go to, just to mix a jug of Poncha, but I thank him for it! VIDEO

I made the mistake of watching this when I was hungry. Gastronomy week in Machico 2009. VIDEO

Many thanks to Paul (Paul do Mar) for this piece :

Bird-watching in the Madeiran islands

The total number of birds that can be observed on the island of Madeira which includes its Natural Park, almost three-quarters of the island, is around 220 species!

Bird-watching in Funchal: Ponta da Cruz is by far the best seawatching point in Funchal: Cory’s Shearwater, Bulwer’s Petrel, Little Shearwater, Manx Shearwater and sometimes Madeiran Storm-Petrel, Fea’s Petrel and White-faced Storm-Petrel can be spotted here.

Bird-watching in Calheta region

Ponta do Pargo has a very diverse birdlife. Because it’s still a very remote area, it has not changed over recent years and mixed woodland, agricultural fields and derelict houses define the landscape. Almost every species of passerines that occur in Madeira can be observed here. Seabirds like Madeiran Storm-Petrel and Cory’s Shearwater can also be seen here. Sometimes trans-Saharan migrants make a resting stop here

The best seawatching site on Madeira? Porto Moniz. Go to the coach parking lot, overlooking the natural swimming pools and look for a concrete wall, a good place to watch from. Here you could find: Fea´s Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel, Cory’s Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Little Shearwater and Manx Shearwater. If lucky, it is also possible to see some whales and dolphins. Best time for seabirds is from late April to October.

Bird-watchers usually come to Madeira looking for rare seabirds, and the endemic species and subspecies of landbirds. Most of them are resident so it’s possible to find them almost every year.

Paul is a member of SPEA. Here is a LINK to a really useful Factsheet, available in English, on bird-watching in all the Madeiran islands. Happy Bird-watching!

The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept eurozone interest rates on hold at a record low of 1% for the ninth month in a row. Member countries’ economies remain fragile and no increase in borrowing costs was expected this month. Some are showing signs of recovery, but with inflation low and continuing fears about the health of certain members, it is seen to be too soon to move rates. Credit / Source : BBC

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

DIÁRIO 08/02/2010

MADEIRA

CMF orders contingency plan. The Municipality of Funchal has invited tenders for the preparation of the Municipal Emergency Civil Protection Plan. There are national and regional guidelines for drawing up these plans. The first phase will be dedicated to the assessment of the levels of various risks already defined at the national level, each council indicating those that will occur most frequently in that municipality. These include national disasters such as landslides and those that can be generated by human means, for example from the transportation of hazardous material. In the second step, a survey of the existing resources available at the civil protection level to meet a catastrophe, such as a fire. These include bombeiros, council teams and contractors. The third phase is preparation of the plan itself. It will then be tested by simulation exercises. The company will have a year to draw up the plan which has a starting value of 150,000 Euros.

Neglect after bad weather. The Association of Friends of the Ecological Park of Funchal on Saturday visited the parishes of Faial, São Roque do Faial and Porto da Cruz. There are still areas of danger and neglect after the storms, jeopardizing homes and the expressway. There is a significant possibility of intense rainfall until the end of March so it is essential to take preventative action and clear areas.

Five ’7 Wonders of Portugal’ pre-finalists. Update on yesterday’s story. In this region, the following five of the nine original entries go forward to the next phase of the competition: Cabo Girão, Floresta Laurissilva, Ilhas Selvagens, beach at Porto Santo and the fossilized reefs and galleries of the Ilhéu da Cal.

POLITICS

Hospital will not meet the MPT. The Health Service of the Region (SESARAM) have not responded to the request made by the MPT (Earth Party) last October. They asked the administrators for a meeting to discuss whether economics prevented the admittance of patients to hospital. The MPT have received complaints from users of the health service about lack of humanity in the hospital and discriminatory situations. The MPT are now handing the case over to the Ombudsman. They want to know if the hospital is governed by economic criteria when deciding whether or not to admit a patient. The MPT state, "Anyone who is a lifelong taxpayer is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect when ill."

Ismael critical of the stance of the CDS in Ribeira Brava. The centrists say they will still submit proposals favoured by the population. The mayor, Ismael Fernandes, says his rejection of these proposals is not an obsession but a necessity as they are not part of the Plan of Action or this year’s Budget. Rafael Sousa (CDS) argues that such "proposed ideas were presented by the very people who feel the need for something to be done." "Why not change the Plan and give priority to works that are understood to be more useful," he challenges. "It is the people who decide at the time of voting on who actually cares." Ismael Fernandes continues unabated, stating that the Plan and Budget did not have the agreement of the opposition parties, so it was not the majority of the Municipal Council that accepted proposals that were not part of our election manifesto, they were approved by the majority of ribeira bravenses. A PS councillor considers this position to be too uncompromising and the PSD should show openness "to the possibility that opposition proposals are also viable and contribute to the improvement of the county."

CULTURE

Alberto Sousa sings on Valentine’s Day. Alberto Sousa is a young Madeiran tenor who is invited by the Amigos do Conservatório de Música da Madeira (AACMM) to sing at the ‘Serenata de S. Valentim’ on February 14th at 18.00 at the Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias. He will be accompanied by the Hungarian pianist, András Ervin Hennel, already well known to people in Madeira. The recital will consist of popular operatic themes. At present, Alberto Sousa is studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London for a Master’s Degree. Tickets are on sale at the theatre.

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

REGION

Registration for the Festa da Anona. The 12th edition of the Exhibition of Regional Anona takes place on the 27 – 28 February. Farmers can now enter the event until the 23rd February. The stands at Faial will be judged on the Sunday. The show helps to promote Faial and possibly increase exportation of the custard apple to Continental Portugal and France.

EVENTS

Driver assaulted at zebra crossing. The attack on a car driver on the Caminho do Poço Barral, near a large commercial area, happened eight days ago. At 23.00, she stopped at a zebra crossing to allow three ‘false pedestrians’ to cross. They pulled the car door open, dragged her into the road and stole her purse and phone. They then damaged the car when they realised the purse was empty. The woman’s immediate reaction was to leave the area as soon as possible, returned to her house then called the police an hour later. The police went to the area but could not find the suspects.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Bloco [Left Block] wants Jornal da Madeira discussed in the Assembly of the Republic – Madeira will be in the widened debate about pressures and control of Social Communication [Media] at a national level.

Today’s main news headline : Lagoon [pond] has a dump to be cleared waiting for 5 years – The protocol in order to create a centre of environmental education in Lugar de Baixo and enhance ecotourism was never advanced. Quercus also made a study of redevelopment in 2003 that fell on ‘deaf ears’. That is that large pond along the sea side of the road, that is near to the main sea-front café, and was full of ducks last time I looked. The main front page photo today shows the state of the place, and you have to look closely to see that the forefront ‘greenery’ actually consists of hoards of empty green bottles. Aren’t some people disgusting!

Law of Sponsorship doesn’t excite – The philharmonic [orchestra] of Santana received a van from a private sponsor. A rare case, say DRAC. The ‘Banda Municipal’ received the 9 seater minibus from constructor Zagope, a rare event indeed according to the directorate for culture, because the law that covers such donations makes the act of giving uninteresting to potential donors, who prefer to give to more visible causes, like certain sports. We don’t need sponsors to buy transport for cultural or sports groups in Ribeira Brava, our local council will just go out and buy a new bus at the drop of a hat, and then leave them parked unused for days on end where they shouldn’t be.

Carnival 2010 – around 2,710 people involved this year. The hotel occupation is estimated at 62%, 10% less than in 2009. I just included it because I though it was a fantastic picture.

BTW – don’t forget that this Friday is the day of the Children’s carnival parades. It doesn’t get publicised like the adult events, but you can see some fantastic ‘home made’ displays, even if not mega-synchronised, with kids of all ages, and a few teachers and parents involved too. It’s big in Funchal, and in Ribeira Brava (late morning) also. If you know of any places or times of these parades, please share your knowledge.

Diocese ‘kicks into touch’ the solution of Padre Martins – The pilgrim image [Fátima] was always going to Ribeira Seca. But the Case of Martins Jr complicated the issue.

The main sport / football headline today : ‘Vuvuzelas dos Magriços’ fazem furor – In South Africa the 2010 World Cup is already boiling. Sometimes I just can’t get a headline to translate into anything sensible, and it’s a case of seeking native knowledge to resolve it. But this one I persisted with and eventually cracked it, thanks in part to Wikipedia. A vuvuzela, sometimes called a "lepatata" (its Setswana name) or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. Os Magriços was the nickname of the Portugal national football team which reached third place in the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. So what the headline actually says is ‘Plastic Trumpets used during the 1966 Portuguese World Cup games’ are all the rage. Not quite as punchy when translated, but worth the wait don’t you think? Unfortunately I am all out of time now as a result, but at least I cracked it!

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.

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

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

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

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Domestic violence up 24.6% ; Fighting corruption Solar panels heating up ; Nun’s Valley raided

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Today’s Photos Thanks to Martin L … Christmas lights in Ribeira Brava

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR A FULL SIZE VIEW

"Hotels in the Portuguese town of Funchal on the Atlantic Island Madiera are also favoured by travellers; hotels in the port town have an average of 79.31 points and are fourth in the overall European Reputation …" TRAVEL NEWS GAZETTE

ALSO : Amusement park in Ponta do Sol – Giga Park A COUPLE OF PHOTOS

A short video here from the 4TH FUNCHAL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

This from the RTP Azores website : The number of domestic violence complaints filed in the Azores amounts to 3.6% of the national total, but the region recorded a 3.9%decrease compared to the same time last year. According to data from a report issued by the General Direction of Internal Administration, the number of complaints filed to the PSP and GNR increased by 12% nationwide in the first half of 2009 compared with 2008. The document says that police forces received 14,600 complaints during the first six months of this year, i.e. 1,570 cases more than in the first half of 2008. The most complaints were filed in Madeira which recorded a 24.6% increase over last year while mainland Portugal saw the number of cases rise by 12.4%.

"DARTMOUTH — Joseph Sousa, age 83, of Dartmouth, MA passed on Friday, December 4, 2009 at Brandon Woods in Dartmouth … he was the driving force in creating the Museum of Madeiran Heritage and was tireless in his dedication and promotion of Madeiran culture and history. He received numerous honors for his many outstanding accomplishments". MORE

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

Bonus item : Caniço in 1933 (on the Casa do Povo site).

More than 150 cars sold. It is a ‘safe bet’ for the Group Camacho. Of the approximately 200 cars set out in the VI Used Car Show, more than 150 were sold. The show was between the 2 and 6 December and more than 600 euros was collected for the ‘Hat of Hope’ charity.

Fighting begins with the ordinary citizen. President of the Council for the Prevention of Corruption in Portugal states that the idea that ‘favours’ for benefits are ‘a normal thing’ must stop. He is also President of the Court of Auditors and pointed out that corruption is a phenomenon for us, not for others, and knocking at the door of every citizen. "Corruption starts as a small favour and may end up in a crime. The fight against corruption starts at the common citizen. "In public departments, citizens undoubtedly see they will be treated more quickly if they give something to state officials. This certainly has to end once and for all." He reinforced, "People may think they are attended to more quickly if they corrupt. This can even be seen as a normal thing, but it must cease." "If we reach positive objectives in the fight against corruption, we will obtain better results in public administration, and overall, the affirmation that the State is like a good person." That is, the better that corruption is tackled, the more effective will be the public administration machinery, and less justification for corruption. Laws can only be deterrents if they give rise to sanctions. The Council for the Prevention of Corruption has been active for a year and he is sympathetic to the fact that people are usually sceptical about new institutions.

Air quality is better. In Funchal, the average annual carbon monoxide content has decreased by about 25% since 2007. São João (Edificio 2000) monitoring station data analyzed. There might be two explanations; the decrease in car traffic in the city and/or improvements in vehicle carbon monoxide filtration equipment. The annual average CO content fell from 522 micrograms per cubic metre to 401 this year. The lowest monthly averages were also achieved during this year, a continuing trend downwards. Two years ago, the highest monthly concentration was in January at 700 micrograms and the highest this year was in March but even so, was less than 500 micrograms. There are lower levels during the warmer months coinciding with the holiday period when there is less car traffic. Similarly, the highest daily averages are falling, from 1,300 micrograms in April 2007 to less than 700 per day this year. The highest hourly concentrations of CO for the last three years reached almost 4,000 micrograms which are lower than the legal maximum of 10,000 micrograms of CO per cubic metre. The maximum this year has not exceeded 2,000 and they coincide with the peak traffic times at 08.00 and 18.00 hours.

Christmas competitions in Machico. Getting ready for Christmas in Machico. The local council has released details of the usual seasonal competitions. Until January 4, ‘Machico More Sweet’ to preserve and disseminate traditional Madeiran confectionery and liqueur recipes. Competition of Display Units for shops from 15 December to 12 January. Nativity Contest to revive the symbolism of the traditional Madeiran presépio for people both inside and outside their homes.

61 year old woman brutally attacked. Occurred on Saturday night in Funchal by her brother using a hoe handle, after a history of threats. She has a broken arm and hand, scars and wounds and has been advised bed rest for eight days. She will make a formal complaint to the police, from which he retired but is still covered by disciplinary regulations.

‘Função do porco’ tomorrow in Camacha. At the Casa do Povo, the Christmas festivity program has been released. The range of festivities and celebrations include performances by traditional groups and institutions of the ‘capital of the traditional Madeiran culture’. Tuesday December 8 at 15.00 is the traditional ‘função do porco’. Nuno Abreu, the President of the Casa do Povo explained, "The pig will come already dead for the procedures of cleaning and cutting." The various steps of the ‘função’ were then explained, which result in the prepared pig cut into five sections. —- I will leave out details in case there are any vegetarian readers.

Quartet in Port; port full with up to 7,400 tourists. Four cruise ships in port today has meant that the arrival of the ferry Volcan de Tijarafe from Portimão has had to be delayed until 18.00, because the normal mooring site will be occupied by the Balmoral. The ferry will leave for the Canary Islands two hours later, freeing the pier/ramp for the Lobo Marinho arrival at 20.15. The four cruise ships are the AIDAluna (2,250 tourists), MSC Orchestra (2,600), Balmoral (1,200) and the Island Escape (1,400).

‘Weekbreak’ includes the Pousadas de Portugal. The product ‘Weekbreak’ is the result of partnership between Travelport and ‘Life is Beautiful’. The stays at the Pousadas de Portugal, operated by the Pestana Group, have prices ranging from 79.90 to 119.90 euros, ensuring brand new and better experiences at Christmas. These are available through travel agents and promoted as unique Christmas presents for families and friends. The first proposal is an inspiring evening for two, with breakfast included, in one of the 20 Pousadas de Portugal. The second proposal is a pack of two night stays for two people in the 31 pousadas. Pousadas de Portugal are restored buildings of architectural heritage with high quality modern interior furnishings. Ancient palaces, monasteries, convents and fortresses have been restored. The Pousadas de Portugal package includes the North, Central, Alentejo, Algarve and the Azores. The other packages include; Country Escapes, Spa and Rituals, Charming Places, Hotel and Spa, Youth Hostels and Paradores of Spain. More information www.myweekbreak.com —- Photo is the Convento de Santa Clara in Vila do Conde, one of the proposals.

2,000 already have solar panels and other environmental news. By the end of November 2009, there were more than 2,000 Madeirans who have benefited from the ‘Medida Solar Termico 2009′ campaign, providing tax relief expiring at the end of this year. At the end of the year, individuals are eligible for a reduction of 50% of the purchase of solar heating panels from the beginning of the year until the end of the month. A family can save up to 70% of annual water heating costs, even on cloudy days up to 60% of need can be achieved. Already including Government support, the initial costs vary from 600 to more than 3,300 euros and the panels should last for up to 20 years. Details online www.paineissolares.gov.pt. For anyone interested in ‘clean energy’, another article states that 94% of wind farms in Portugal have been approved since 2005. There will be 76 in total (1,057 turbines), mainly located in mountainous areas of the Northern and Central Interior. SPEA criticize the lack of strategy in locating wind farms as they are sometimes installed in migration routes of birds. By 2010, the Portuguese Government predicts that about 45% of electricity will be generated from renewable sources. Quercus in Madeira have drawn a list of twelve tips that allow one to save the environment and lessen spending this season. Energy saving, recycling and using rechargeable batteries are some of the tips for a ‘greener’ Christmas. Saving on lighting, utilizing recycled wrapping paper, offering helpful gifts, taking advantage of the Christmas decorations provided by the Councils, for ‘sustainable consumption’. The Regional Director of the Environment at the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen and Quercus are concerned about water management as there are decreasing amounts of rainfall in Madeira. Madeirans have to rationalize water consumption, streams have to be maintained by cleaning and the Government has constructed reservoirs to secure water resources for agriculture.

"So who is the ass?" The CDS-PP in Câmara de Lobos Council still want the second access road to Nun’s Valley that was proposed in the last reunion of the Council. It is recalled that recently the President of the Government, Alberto João Jardim, described as "illiterate" all those who defend a second alternative road to the interior of Nun’s Valley. Roberto Rodrigues, author of the proposal submitted by the CDS-PP in that authority is convinced that these words of the President of the Regional Government will have negative effects on the next electoral results of the PSD. Rodrigues claims that he has no doubt that in the next election, the electorate will know the Curral gave proper response to the President. "I am convinced that in the next election, the vote of the people of Curral das Freiras will make people aware about who is after all the ass in this whole story."

Five arrested and 34 weapons seized in Nun’s Valley. Police operation lasting six hours on Saturday / Sunday, including house searches. Four people arrested for possession of prohibited arms and one for driving without a licence. The weapons seized included twelve firearms, two extendible batons, three replica firearms, five daggers, one sword, three machetes and a whip. In addition to weapons, 107 pyrotechnics were also seized and 24 large blue cans labelled as bleach but containing 600 litres of alcohol. The police also carried out roadside checks and monitored 88 vehicles. In a statement the police said that Nun’s Valley "reveals some disturbing deviant behaviour, particularly the high rate of domestic violence and alcohol consumption." These were the reasons for "adoption of a strategic intervention in order to prevent and tackle illegal activities."

Câmara de Lobos has 45 million euros budget. The Municipality of Câmara de Lobos is expected to have for the next financial year another Municipal Budget of the order of 45 million euros. Last year’s budget was 45.23 million, this years has declined by around 300,000 euros to 44.9 million. In order to prevent a debate on the Budget Plan 2010 at the next public meeting on December 18, and also because the Municipal Assembly meets a day before the last meeting of the town council, a special meeting has been scheduled for next Friday by the mayor to debate and vote on the Budget Plan. The approval should be easy as the PSD have absolute majority against the three opposition parties. The PS (Socialist Party) reject the Budget is lower due to the Local Finance Law but because the Regional Government has reduced transfers. The MPT (Earth Party) believe that special attention should be given to the quality of life and money not to be diverted for what can be classified as ‘megalomanias’. The CDS-PP stresses that the crisis also comes to the Council and it is also the fault of the Regional Government because it does not meet the contracts-program.

More than half a thousand requested retirement. This year, a total of 516 public employees have requested early retirement. It is a very high value, more than double than in some recent years and not the record only because last year’s accumulation represented two years (2007 and 2008), reaching a total of 625 retirements. Almost a third (139) were from the educational section, of which 74 were teachers, possibly reflecting the turmoil that resulted from the new arrangements for evaluation and career development. Another significant share of outflows were from the areas of social services and health, with 172 retirements, as follows: 139 from the Health Service, 33 from Social Security, 3 from Health and Social Services Administration. 17 doctors retired (including 14 Heads of Departments), more than in any previous year, a phenomenon that should not be alien to the restructuring of the Central Hospital of Funchal. Also 44 nurses left active service. High outputs in the Department of Natural Resources (43), the 11 local Councils (53, 26 in Funchal), ANAM (19), RAMEDM- Roads of Madeira (13) and Social Equipment (13). The sum of the pension these 516 retirees are entitled to reaches a total value of 581,000 euros, that is, an average monthly pension of 1,125 euros. This is slightly below last year’s value of 1,169 euros. Men on average earn 76 euros less pension than women but the ‘millionaire pensioners’ barely cover women, last year 8 out of the 10 highest pensions were awarded to men. In the last 10 years, 3,918 public sector pensioners have been created, an average of 391 per year. The highest pension among the 516 retirees this year was awarded to a notary who is entitled to receive 4,500 euros a month. It is about 20 times more than the five people who received the lowest pension of 227 euros per month. Among the other beneficiaries of the ten highest pensions, six were doctors, a nurse, a university professor and a deputy.

Lights go on today in São Vicente. The illuminations start today at 21.00 in São Vicente, also in the centres of Ponta Delgada and Boaventura. There will be two presépios in São Vicente, one Madeiran in the lobby of the Municipal Building and a large one in the Municipal Garden. The illuminations will continue until January 22, day of the patron saint of the county, which is a municipal holiday. The Night Market is on December 18, with Christmas carols.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Plan for the mountain range include Rabaçal cable car – The popular action is in progress. The time has come to join the ‘class action’ against the cable car that is planned for construction in Rabaçal. The action was instigated in March by two environmental organisations, both with the intent of putting a stop to the project. ‘Quercus National Association for Nature Conservation’ and ‘The Friends of the Ecological Park’ asked the Administrative Court of Funchal (TAF) for a declaration of nullity or annulment of the decision of the Madeira Government, approving the planned construction in the laurissilva forest, an area classified as "biological reserve" by the Council of Europe, and as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO.

Funchal Council identifies trees of public interest.

Future of the land doesn’t get decided just in Copenhagen.

Today’s main news headline : Cheque mystery – Santana Council passed a cheque to its ex-president to the value of nearly €5,000, relating to entertaining expenses in the final three years of his political mandate. Carlos Pereira left it in a office in the câmara from where it would come to be removed on the day that the new executive took office. The cheque showed up weeks later, in a donation box in Sé. When Pereira returned to his office to ‘clear out his desk’ he was pretty upset to find his cheque had disappeared, but his happiness returned when a council employee told him that his cheque had turned up in the donation box in Sé Cathedral in Funchal. The story seems implausible even within a comedy, but Pereira confirms that the cheque was stolen by someone who had access to keys, narrowing it down to just a few people. He thinks it was a prank in bad taste, because no one else could have banked the cheque, or an act of ‘pure malice’, as he sought to play down the matter. The matter was resolved when a priest at the Cathedral had called the council very surprised to have found the cheque that had appeared, with the name of the ex-president (PSD). Very upsetting, I could hardly swallow my breakfast cereal reading this tale of woe. It just goes to show that the PSD unpleasantness extends within the party, and is not just reserved for outsiders. Is there no system to stop a stolen cheque here then, as issuing a new one surely wouldn’t have been an insurmountable problem?

Almost 100 went to the Gripe A Centre and to the confusion. The treatment centre at Santo António was very busy and the users were muddled. 82 concerned / sick people had turned up at the new swine flu treatment centre by 5 pm yesterday, on its first day of operation, some having firstly gone to the Emergencies at the hospital (obviously not blog readers then!), and others went to Santo António when they should have gone to their local health centre. One father of a sick boy, said he first of all rang the ‘Health Line’, where he was told to go to the hospital, only to find that he ‘was knocking on the wrong door’. He was then told to go to Santo António, and he did so, despite actually living in Garajau and covered by the health centre in Machico. But common sense prevailed and the sick boy was attended to at Santo António. Some patients had to wait in the reception as the waiting room and corridor was filled with adults and children wearing green surgical masks. Talk about the unpleasant things people have to do in life sometimes, as this must rank amongst one of them … being perfectly healthy yourself and having to take a kid (who may or may not have Gripe A) into a room of festering germs, all eager to jump down ones throat. Must be almost as bad as going out to lunch with Uncle Bertie … no I jest … bring on the swine flu!

The public revenue doesn’t depend on the authorisation of the State.

Nacional celebrate 99 years with two victories – The Alvinegros went to Leiria winning by 1 – 2 and keep fourth place in the premier league. The other victory came from hospital : Manager Manuel Machado is now conscious and out of danger.

That’s all I have time for. If anyone else can oblige with any of the ‘blank’ headlines, here is the link

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

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

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

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Giga Park controversy ; Police target Caniçal ; Costa Concordia premiers ; Budget Travel bust

admin — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Today’s Photo Thanks to Derek … Flower festival dancers

Many thanks again to Elaine for yesterday’s top news stories …

Giga Park is not yet opened but is already causing controversy. The ownership of one of the leased areas is in dispute and going to court. It is not yet installed but the amusement park in Ponta do Sol is a cause of controversy, which could end up in court. Two individuals claim possession of the land in question. The case promises to end up in court with an action brought as early as next week, says the contesting party. At the heart of the dispute is a piece of land in the expansion zone of Ponta do Sol, where in two weeks time is to be constructed the amusement park for the Christmas season and will remain there until mid-January. Marcos Vaz, responsible for organizing the fair and rents the land it occupies, assures he has possession of the proper permits through signed documents by all landowners. He rejects accusations of invading property without proper consent. One of the Gouveia family, claiming land ownership, complains that the Council of Ponta do Sol is complicit in the invasion because they authorized the installation on private property. Without concealing his anger, denouncing: "Ponta do Sol as the plunderer." In the midst of this is another owner claiming the coveted land, having made a deed of justification (prescription) at the end of last October. Although a period of 30 days is liable for a contest of a document of justification, the claimant promises to take the case to court next week for the judge to rule on the legitimate ownership. The mayor was surprised that there were no objections until yesterday when no one has previously complained to the Council services. He says the person is entitled to complain over registration of the land but he just wants to create controversy. He says the Giga Park has been authorized to be placed in the expansion area of Ponta do Sol but with safeguards that the entrepreneur obtains the proper consent from the land owners. The authorities have not issued any document and will only do so after confirming the lawful possession of the land to be occupied.

Attempted homicide against an inspector of the PJ. The Public Ministry has filed a complaint against an individual who on July 27 2009, on Porto Santo, fired a shot from a shotgun against an inspector of the PJ (Justicial Police) who had his mother in custody. The shot was fired about five metres from the inspector. The defendant is charged with attempted homicide, resistance to arrest and causing injury to an officer. The accused is 22 years old and was born in Porto Santo. The car of the PJ was targeted but no officer injured in the shooting. The investigations that were underway were related to the crime of drug trafficking and the action of the individual was to intimidate the agents who had detained a couple under suspicion. The action eventually cumulated in the arrest of a man and a woman of Portuguese nationality aged 38 and 48. 390 doses of heroin were also seized.

Police operation in conjunction with various forces in Caniçal. On 19 November, there was a Special Crime Prevention Operation in the municipality of Machico, especially directed at the parish of Caniçal. 568 individuals and 264 vehicles searched. Two guns, five doses of hashish, a car and several documents were seized in the operation which resulted in an arrest for possession of a prohibited weapon, illegal transport of a weapon and drug taking. 25 foreign nationals were also investigated for immigration offences.

Volunteers help Dutch couple. A Dutch citizen, in her 60s, was rescued yesterday by bombeiros when she was overcome with exhaustion on descending the path connecting Bobasas to Bom Sucesso. Her husband asked for assistance when she had breathing difficulties and the bombeiros administered oxygen to stabilise her. On arrival at Bom Sucesso, the woman’s condition had improved and they declined transportation to the hospital.

Costa Concordia debut. Italian cruise ship travelled from Lisbon with 2,200 tourists, on their way to Brazil. It was the first time this ship has visited the region and arrival scheduled for 07.00. It is on a repositioning cruise to Brazil where it will operate over the next four months. It was built in 2006, has 17 decks providing 3,780 beds in 1,500 cabins. The range of services on the floating hotel include areas of leisure, catering, gambling and nightlife. There is also a chapel for prayer/meditation. There are four swimming pools including a samsara spa, sundeck, sports area, five jacuzzis and a beauty salon. In addition to a recreation area for children, there is an area of shops, an art gallery and Internet access. The ship sails at 17.00 for Recife and the ship will return on the 22 March 2010 on the way back to Europe. There will be the traditional arrival ceremony accompanied by the Ports Authority and Ships Enthusiasts Club.

Despite the Christmas bonus, people still not spending. The Civil Servants have received their Christmas bonus but the traders in the centre of Funchal say the sector is still in crisis. Trade has been poor all year and people are buying the cheapest articles. Traders hope that business will improve when other employees receive their bonus on the 15 December. The ATM machines were affected and often unavailable for service yesterday afternoon with withdrawals and transfers due to the Christmas bonus. The Porto Santo ferry is changing its schedule to help people travel to Madeira for Christmas shopping, so they can travel on Thursday night and return to the island on Friday night.

Bankruptcy of Irish tour operator affects the region. The collapse of the Irish tour operator Budget Travel has stranded more than 700 customers in various resorts worldwide. There are 28 tourists in Madeira whose return is guaranteed via SATA and money will be refunded to other customers who have booked holidays. There are still debts to be paid and the firm last week paid a large sum to a regional hotel group. Budget Travel was allocated 50 seats per week on SATA flights from Dublin. The airline will now have to try to sell the seats to other Irish operators but the prospects are not very good given the economic collapse of Ireland last year, which made news headlines around the world. Budget Travel has been in the market for about 35 years and has faced serious difficulties since last year. The company has no means and no prospects of paying in the coming months the debts to suppliers estimated at around €9.4 million. Madeiran hotels lose potentially 50 customers per week, an annual total of 2,500 guests with an average stay of seven nights.

Nuno Teixeira attends to the future of fisheries. The Social Democrat MEP promised yesterday to pay attention to the interests of Madeira in the fisheries sector, although this is not an area under his direct competence. He met with the parliamentary group of the PSD to discuss subsidies for construction and boat repair and the three month period without fishing for the black scabbard fish (espada). He took the opportunity to talk to the people of Madeira about the importance of the Green Paper on Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy which is in consultation until the end of the year. The argument is that the European Community compensation for the additional costs in marketing certain fishery products from the outermost regions should not be subject to a time limit as these are permanent handicaps. There should be a distinction between small regional fishing fleets and large industrial trawlers, and identification of fragile habitats.

Council of Machico limit the amount of construction. The Council of Machico will set a quota for construction throughout the county, taking advantage of the revision of the Municipal Plan. Although there are still some major works to be completed and new projects, the priority will be to focus on the environment and social areas. Works of the council will focus on green areas integrated into urban areas. In the more populated centres, there will be established gardens and leisure areas. The mayor points out that there are still some important works to be achieved; the health centre at Porto da Cruz, the enlargement of the quay at Porto da Cruz, the new sports pavilion at Machico and upgrading the centre of Caniçal.

Madeira inundates São Bento with propositions. In a little over a month, there were six initiatives, taking advantage of the weakness of the Portuguese Socialist Party. The two proposed amendments to the law of support for air transport are the first in what is promised to be a long series. Since the beginning of the current legislative session on October 20, Madeira has sent an average of one bill a week to the Assembly of the Republic. The aim is to take advantage of the fact that the PS lost its absolute majority and force the adoption of proposals rejected by the previous Socialist Government. The key of course, is the amendment to the Finance Act of the Autonomous Region, as proposed by the PSD-M and even had the backing of the Socialists in Madeira. In the case of the Finance Act, there is agreement with the PSD in Portugal and the opposition CDS and BE will probably agree, so the Socialists have few alternatives. The other laws are; pension supplement of 65 Euros paid by the Government of the Republic, 30% more for the police and immigration officials, and salaries of public administrations of ANAM. Jardim advises the Portuguese Government that as all is not well in the current situation, it should resign.

This article was also translated by an Elaine, this one from the West … many thanks!

(This is today’s top story in the Diário) : 15 more TAP flights for the festive season. Fernando Pinto has promised and TAP will fulfil. The airline will increase flights to Madeira from the second half of December and the end of the first week of January. According to data provided by the carrier, 14,248 places will be available on the Lisbon – Funchal route, through the enhancement of 96 flights. Between Porto and Madeira 54 more flights are planned, an increase of 7318 seats. The increase during Christmas and New Year’s Eve is because of immigrants who keep up the tradition of spending the festive season in Madeira, but also thanks to the diversity of programs offered by national operators, leading to TAP increasing daily flights. In all, more than 150 flights and 21,566 seats will be available. "This has always been the case, and we will continue to enhance the service to Madeira at Christmas and the end of the year," said the president of TAP, Fernando Pinto, during the 35th Congress of the WTTC, despite the time of crisis which has led to the reduction in supply and loss of passengers in the increase of air transport to Madeira. In the festive season TAP will also strengthen its operation to the Azores: over 14 flights to Horta, equivalent to 1,968 seats, plus 20 for Terçeira, ensuring an increase of 3000 seats and 4 more for Pico, providing over 528 seats.

A quick look at the rest of the front page of today’s headlines in the Diário de Notícias (Der) :

Food aid triples on Madeira. 83 thousand packages arrived this month for 10 thousand Madeirans, resulting in Social Security concluding that "only those who want to go hungry". The larders of some social and charity institutions and around 10,000 impoverished Madeirans were filled during November with over 830 thousand food packages, almost three times as many as in 2008 (326,000). This has been achieved through the Program for Community Food Aid for the Disadvantaged (PCAAC). The head of Social Security confirmed the figures, saying that there no need for anyone to go hungry. Madeira has been included in the scope of PCAAC since 1999, that has the objective of distributing specific food types to various member states in need. The main products are rice, pastas, biscuits, butter, cheeses, milk, flour and sugar, although this year several more luxurious products were also delivered. The number of aid recipients has actually dropped slightly this year to 9,618 (9,916). No doubt this publicity will boost the list again, especially as the head of Social Security admits that there are families that have not been identified as ‘poor’, and calls on people and institutions to let them know of any cases. There are also families identified as ‘poor’, but reject the food aid offered.

Solidarity of the people : The charity Cáritas fills 18 carts in only 4 hours just in one shopping commercial area. I won’t cover this one today personally, as the campaign is still running until closing time today, so don’t forget to get down to your local Pingo Doce and fill a bag or two of goodies, and hand them over to the scouts or guides (or whoever) at the entrance on your way out. There should be an acceptable product list on display, that excludes perishables.

Economic Inspection tightens with commerce. The inspection begins tomorrow in ‘Operation Christmas’, with special attention for toys, Xmas decorations and accessories, and foods. The Regional Inspectorate for economic Activities (IRAE) starts its Xmas operation with its focus well prioritised, and the checks will run throughout December, as is customary each year. "With Christmas around the corner there is greater activity of business and trade and, as such, IRAE must be attentive and vigilant in the market for a number of factors, starting with a clear indication of prices of products and services offered", said Regional Inspector Valentim Caldeira. Checks will also be made on toys to ensure that the labelling is consistent with what is required by law, notably in terms of details regarding the age limit for use, and that the instructions or labels are written in Portuguese, especially with electrical products that could be a potential hazard. Valentim also warns that "consumers themselves should be aware of the importance of buying safe toys", because "the children all must be so careful." The safety of toys is as an important aspect in choosing a product as is value for money. Food items will also be checked, in terms of price, but especially with regard to hygiene conditions and packaging. Valentim adds that also the transport of food is also an area for review. As regards Christmas decorations, it is again electrical items with potential safety issues that will be checked. Items that do not comply with regulations are seized by the inspectors. The issue of instructions in Portuguese is interesting, as the consumer organisation DECO does not say that it is illegal, and just says if the instructions don’t exist in Portuguese, then buy something else. They also say that buyers should read the instructions before buying the product, asking a shop assistant to open the package if necessary. As a lot of electrical products come in sealed boxes, I can’t imagine that being so successful, especially where there is a label warning about buying if the seal is broken. Chinese shops beware!

Cliff Bay Hotel restaurant keeps its ‘Michelin Star’. Does anyone really care?

Registration of ships bring millions in IVA tax (VAT) – Ships registered in Madeira are floating commercial centres. Not wishing to hog all the top stories I will leave this one for someone else, someone new perhaps. Quem me dera!

Saturday of draws. Nacional only managed a home 1 – 1 draw yesterday against Naval, which won’t help the recovery too much of Nacional manager Manuel Machado, in hospital after an infection following a hernia surgical procedure, and still not out of danger. The headline also refers to and pictures the derby match between Sporting and Benfica last night, that ended in a 0 – 0 draw. Marítimo play away today at Belenenses at 6 pm (SportTV2).

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.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Easyjet batters TAP ; Low inflation threatens economy ; 235 sign Machico Petition

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Elaine … Cristo Rei statue at Garajau. Anyone know how high this statue is? If someone can give me an answer, I will tell you why I am curious. Fair enough?

TAP, Portugal’s favourite airline are offering their customers with loyalty cards (air miles accounts) a special deal. ‘Air mile’ bookings can be made for half the normal exchange on a limited number of 300,000 seats, to all destinations (I think!). You can also send / receive ‘air miles’ through other loyalty card customers to make up a usable balance, without any charge.

Brazil – After 18 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes of singlehanded sailing from Funchal on his little 21 foot boat, Frenchman Thomas Ruyant crossed the finish line in Salvador de Bahia today to become winner of the Mini Transat race. Though he had a tear in his eye, Ruyant arrived at the Marina de Bahia with a huge smile on his face, saying: "It was a great feeling when I crossed the finish line. A great moment of happiness". SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME A BEER

Whilst I have no desire to increase the business of any specific hotels, a magazine called DESIGN SCENE has done a photo feature on The Vine in Funchal. Very impressive, if not a little strange. Looking at that first photo though, I think the cleaner needs a little bit of refresher training.

"Claes Feder, who has died in the Algarve at the age of 81, will be remembered for his love of classic ships, the excellence of his work as an architect and the warmth of his personality as a bon viveur. His lifelong association with Portugal and all things nautical began on the island of Madeira where he was born. His father was Danish, his mother Swedish. He was 17 before he first went to Scandinavia at the end of World War II". His claim to fame must be unique, but you don’t find out until the penultimate paragraph that he produced detailed plans for a five-star hotel and conference centre within a full-scale replica of the Titanic, but I have no idea whether it was built or not. RIP

Tobi, the blog cuisine expert, has revealed his cherished and secret chutney recipes, yielding to pressure from readers from readers who don’t like the prices and chutneys available here. Pear today, and Mango will follow tomorrow. Thanks Tobi!

PEAR CHUTNEY
225g shallots (I just used onions)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove crushed
1kg pears (any kind but not too ripe) Cored, peeled, and roughly chopped
175g muscovado sugar
100g raisins
10 cloves
350ml red wine vinegar
jars for storing

Chop onions and heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and garlic and cook for 5 mins until soft, add the pears, sugar, raisins, vinegar and cloves, and bring to the boil, then let simmer rapidly for 30-40 mins, stirring from time to time, until pear is tender and liquid has evaporated. While doing this get your jars ready, I get mine hot in an oven for say 5 mins with the lids off but heat the lids as well, as this is just to kill germs, then place the HOT chutney in the jars and put the lids on, when they cool, the lid will pop down making it vacuum tight. Store in the cupboard for at least 2 weeks before eating, once opened it keeps in the fridge for 3 months.

I treated myself to a Jacuzzi yesterday, in a private facility in Ribeira Brava, where it is reserved for an hour. All very nice, and I came out well refreshed and massaged, and full of beans. It wasn’t until I was almost dressed that I noticed ‘Rules of the Jacuzzi’ on the changing room wall. 1. Users must bring a towel, wear flip-flops and bathing costume. 2. Users must shower before entering the Jacuzzi, and 3. Users must not urinate in the Jacuzzi. I hadn’t contemplated that last possibility in the least, and had I done so I don’t think I would have even entered the water. Is it really necessary to post such a rule on the wall, giving the impression that it was a possibility? Looking in the mirror this morning I seem to be a little jaundiced … probably my overactive imagination.

This weekends football : Marítimo host Paços de Ferreira on Sunday at 4 pm (not on TV), whilst the big game, in my opinion, is on Monday at 8.15 pm, when Nacional visit Benfica. Nacional are likely favourites to get a big thrashing, as the hosts are knocking in more goals than Uncle Bertie was doing pre-election inaugurations. On SportTV1.

Have a great weekend! (and don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour tonight).

Low inflation is the biggest threat. Luis Campos e Cunha, a University Professor in Economics and former Finance Minister warns that Portugal has a lower inflation rate than the euro zone and if this trend continues, deflation might occur. This will cause increased labour costs, decreased competitiveness of certain firms and higher unemployment. In addition to the impact of the euro, this is because of poor fiscal policies and poor savings of the Portuguese which led to reduced production and marketing of tradable goods. The trade deficit has worsened in the last twelve years. A more restrained fiscal policy is needed as enough has not been saved, as in other countries. This means cancelling or postponing large public investments. Banks might experience bad loans, families will have less to spend and social problems will have to be solved in the short term. In contrast, the Chairman of the Order of Economists thinks that 2010 will be a transitional year as there are ‘unsafe signs of recovery’. He says state investments are necessary for economic recovery. The economic crisis is thought to be good for globalization and technological innovation. Jardim said that unemployment is the greatest challenge and should be the priority of governments, employers and workers, who need more commitment and productivity. He said that the money borrowed by Madeira for his expansionist policies has four conditions; to be used exclusively for investment, to control inflation, payment of salaries and expenditure on health and education and debt must remain at levels renegotiable.

In Portugal, according to the increased number of calls to the telephone helpline, the crisis has increased suicidal ideas in the population outside the usual risk group of age 30-40 years. This is due to unemployment and they think it is only temporary. In Portugal, the elderly are more at risk, whereas in Madeira and the Azores, it is the opposite, young people commit suicide more. It is thought that the poverty rate in Portugal could be as high as 40%.

The Portuguese League Against Aids has reduced donations from companies due to the crisis and received more requests for help. They celebrate 20 years in 2010 and plan campaigns to fight discrimination and for prevention in the elderly and women.

Casas do Povo desperate for €1.5 million. The Regional Government has been slow to sign protocols with the institutions and money for 2009 has not reached them. They are beginning to make preparations for Christmas and having difficulties paying suppliers, e.g. rent, phone bills and wages.

Government stops work authorized by Funchal Council. A private access was to be built covering over 20 metres of the Ribeiro da Nora. Concern is that the work will cause flooding in other areas. This ribeiro has a history of flooding houses in Rua de Santa Maria and there is increased risk due to decreased drainage in the area.

Company responsible for oil spill in Ribeiro das Freitas in Garajau identified. Due to an accidental rupture of a pipe. The company will pay for the ongoing clean up and the degree of negligence will be investigated for a fine. The slick was discovered on 7 October and has polluted a long stretch of the stream which takes storm water from Cancela Industrial Park and surrounding areas. The oil has entered the sea in the nature reserve by the beach at Garajau.

Simulated rescue exercise at the cable car. Combined firefighters from Funchal and Câmara de Lobos late yesterday afternoon simulated the rescue of passengers trapped inside the cabins of the cable car because of mechanical failure/cable damage. Mountain rescue teams had the job of trying to rescue a trapped couple between Tabaiba and Pena. They had to climb the towers and slide along the cables.

235 businesses sign a petition against Chinese megastores. ACIM, Association of Commerce and Industry of Machico, has sent a petition to the Regional Government and 11 other entities. 185 of the signatures are from ACIM members and the remaining 50 are owners of mini-markets, clothes shops, hardware stores and others in the city centre. Cafe and bar owners did not sign. The petition has gone to the Vice-president of the Regional Government, other government agencies and the Immigration Department. The petition has 11 points that specify a series of problems that will occur, ‘the Chinese stores have commercially, economically and socially a very negative impact on Machico, with consequences across the whole local society’. They are worried that there will be bankruptcies of small businesses, unemployment with resulting financial implications on banking, food, school fees and housing. ACIM want to know why such a large store is sanctioned in the city centre rather than away from it and why only after the local elections.

Statistics given: Machico has a population of 12,000. There are 100 small and medium sized enterprises employing 250 workers. Recently, 3 restaurants, bank branches and accounting firms closed. Already 6 Chinese stores in Machico. With the new stores, they will cover 5,500 square metres in comparison to Maxmat (one of the largest stores) which covers 1,400 square metres.

The Dom Pedro hotel chain has just been licensed by Machico Municipality to build a new unit. They will either extend the present hotel or build holiday apartments. Hotel Dom Pedro Baia Club is a four-star hotel with 218 rooms. The other hotel in Madeira is Hotel Dom Pedro in Garajau, which is three-stars and has 282 rooms. Authorization has also been given by the council for tourist apartments in Água de Pena with a viewpoint overlooking Machico valley, which have also been allowed by the airport as the land is within its security zones.

TAP blames Easyjet for its reduction in Madeira – Lisbon flights. An average of 8% decrease in passenger numbers since January and 10% less in September. Its flights from Lisbon and Porto to Brazil are important as it is the largest carrier of passengers between European airports and Brazil. The market to Caracas has fallen and one of the six weekly flights might have to be cancelled. No surprise that Easyjet get the blame, for me at least. That was the whole idea of the government of Portugal in liberalisation of the airways, to stop the TAP monopoly, and the exploitation of passengers between Madeira and the mainland. Then along came SATA from the Azores, at last some competition we thought, but what did they do? They got straight into bed with TAP, sharing planes (code sharing) and merging the customer loyalty programmes. But our tourism people saw through the scam and the continuing high prices, and called in Easyjet, who have brought down the prices on the Lisbon – Madeira route considerably, though I think those losses are now being recouped from the other Easyjet Madeira routes. Bernardo Trindade was the man responsible for the changes in the airways, our own man from Madeira in the Assembly of the Republic, and also Secretary of State for Tourism in the last government term. Poor old Bernie hasn’t received his phone call yet, so we don’t know if he will continue in the new government or not. I certainly hope so, as I thought he did a really good job for Madeira … maybe just too good a job perhaps, if you know what I mean. Der

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos / videos, or if you can contribute regularly, I can give you a special account that allows you to create your own blog postings.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

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

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Chinese in Machico rocking the boat ; Jardim on a jolly ; Busy day in port with the Queen Vic

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:10:00 +0000

A quick look at today’s front page news headlines:

Machico continues in commotion – Whilst the chamber of commerce ACIM mobilises the ‘troops’ against the Chinese megastore, Jorge Sá, who invested €15 million for just 1,500 square meters in the Hiper Sã supermarket, warns : "They are going to explode the trade of Machico". The president of the council says : It is the law that decides. The first boxes are already being unloaded as the picture shows. The ACIM says that there are two Chinese ‘Grande Bazares’ being opened in Machico, and the president of ACIM is preparing three initiatives that will develop over the next few days. A difficult situation, but Jorge Sã for one should keep his hypocritical views to himself, as how many businesses did he close when he opened his supermarket in Machico (and the rest of the island for that matter). Only one way to beat these things, and that is to compete, but these traders and local businessmen seem to think that they can cherry pick and enjoy the parts of European legislation that suit them, and ditch the rest. Would there be the same rumpus if it was a Madeiran entrepreneur importing and selling these good in a superstore? Anyway, I feel the fears will be unfounded, as they won’t be as cheap as people expect, the quality will often be dubious, and the people of Machico will ultimately decide who lives and who dies.

Illegal landfill born in Campanário – The site is close to houses and has no authorisation. The council of Ribeira Brava says that is is for agricultural purposes; The Forestry authorities talk of a car park.

Warnings of ‘Danger of Death’ surround park dos Lamaceiros – It is a leisure zone with a well discovered and a transmission antennae nearby. Until today nothing bad has happened, but those responsible admit to expanding the precautions. Refreshing change in this world for something to be done before someone gets hurt or killed … wonder what brought that on?

Many thanks to Elaine for these news stories from yesterday :

Renovations and surveys for the two rescue boats ‘Arun’ cost almost 200,000 Euros. These two boats were acquired from England in 2003 and for the past six years have been in dry dock. This has cost SANAS 198,600 Euros, more than double the purchase price of 82,300 Euros. The law forced the name of the boat which is now operational to be changed to ‘Saviour of the Sea’. The boats had to be remodelled, bilge pumps and more batteries fitted, the communications systems changed from English to Portuguese, video surveillance systems installed and all documents had to be translated into Portuguese.

25% of child abuse victims are less than one year old. 6% have not lived for a month. Abuse can be physical, emotional (neglect) or sexual. Both genders are equally affected and 25% are in single parent families. In 65% of the cases, the father is the abuser, 45% are alcoholics, 13% are drug addicts, 10% have a mental disability and 10% have committed previous crimes.

The baby who was removed from a drug addict mother at birth and kept in hospital under a Child Protection Order, received unexplained injuries whilst in the ward (broken arm and bruising to the head). This occurred on 15th August and the family were prevented from visiting and the case is still subject to a lawsuit. The baby, now five months old, is being temporarily cared for by her uncle whilst the mother attempts to gain permanent custody.

A 59 year old man from Ribeira Brava is held at the Casa de Saúde São João de Deus (psychiatric hospital) after being charged with sexual abuse of a 10 year old boy, on more than one occasion.

Repeated vandalism. Vandalism at the dock at Ribeira Brava. Sacks of rubbish were again dumped in the sea and not all of the contents could be recovered by the Council due to the tides. There is a lack of vigilance at night.

More dog poisoning, the third episode in two years. At least five dogs were poisoned in Eiras, Santa Cruz and died at dawn in the backyards and streets just outside where they lived.

Bridge at the Ribeira do Porto Novo closed for another five months. The bridge was closed in 2005 for safety reasons and the work has now been started to strengthen and widen it, replace the flooring and install new safety equipment.

MEPs to visit Madeira. Seven MEPs of the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament will visit between 26 – 28 October in view to increase funding. They will visit Government ministers and companies and learn how funding has been used at Caniçal, Câmara de Lobos, Machico and Funchal.

Publifunchal bring mobile advertising to Madeira. Four ‘Vespas’, bikes with advertising placards on trailers, were in evidence in Funchal yesterday. There will also be people walking around with advertising placards on their backs. Also expect advertising cards placed in car windscreens. This has arisen to help businesses in the time of economic crisis. It is due to a partnership between the firms Publifunchal and WON.

Regional Band Meeting in Ribeira Brava ‘unfair competition’. The President of the Association of Madeira Bands wants the Regional Meeting of Bands to be held before summer and to rotate around the counties rather than in Ribeira Brava each year. The cost is split between the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs and the Municipality of Ribeira Brava, and altering the venue would depend if other councils would invest the same amount into the meeting.

Jose Saramago’s latest book angering the churches. The Nobel Prize laureate has written a book entitled ‘Caim’ (Cain) which is causing a stir as it labels the Bible as a catalogue of cruelty and the worst of human nature. An MEP has asked him to renounce his Portuguese citizenship due to his ‘embarrassing’ statements under the guise of freedom of expression.

1,256 unemployed people have had social security benefits stopped. The Employment Institute has notified the Social Security Department that in the past six months, these claimants have not complied with conditions for receiving benefit. They have been missing sessions at the Job Centre or refusing vocational training or a job. Resumption of payment depends on their ability and willingness to work. Some have gone onto disability or old-age pensions.

Cunard tries to charm Madeirans. There was a meeting on board the Queen Victoria yesterday for travel agents. The Queen Victoria returns in May and December and the Queen Elizabeth in December and both allow boarding and disembarking at any port (a policy of Cunard).

Penultimate visit of the Costa Europa. The visit on Tuesday was its 89th, with 1,500 tourists. The last time it will visit will be on November 3rd. From April next year, it will operate for Thomson Cruises for 10 years.

Jardim spent several days working in Budapest and Strasbourg. No one knows how many days as it has not been disclosed. Sounds like another of Uncle Bertie’s disappearing acts that he was criticised for last year. He is supposed to inform the Madeira assembly of his movements, but never does, and then disappears with telling anyone where or for how long. Whilst away he will stay in the top hotels and maybe have a chauffeur driven car, and it will all be with the excuse of one barely relevant meeting, for which he has representatives, and doesn’t need to attend himself. President César in the Azores never attends such meetings, leaving the appropriate job holder or representative to attend. Der

Chinese threat to Machico trade ; Consumer complaints increase ; Cheaper Poncha ?

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Vic … "This owl was under the airport but why in the middle of the afternoon who knows. You can see where it has last fed from the blood on its feathers".

"In a few minutes we will leave our berth in the marina, when we have filled our diesel tanks we are off to Ilhas Selvagens, about 160 nm south. The wind is very weak, therefore it will probably take about two days to get there. Then we are staying at the islands for 48 hours, that’s as long as our permit is valid. The islands are a nature reserve and bird sanctuary that’s way you have to obtain a permit here in Funchal". CAPTAIN CANTARE B LOG

"Madeira is all about water. The heights are usually clothed in clouds, so that even if it doesn’t rain there is plenty of moisture to feed the streams and rivers that have carved out the deep gorges and valleys. This moist climate contributes to making it a Botanists dream …". Quite a good read from a visitor here. MADEIRA HIKER

Many thanks to Elaine in Garajau for yesterday’s news translations :

Retailers threaten Chinese trade in Machico. More detail about this story. The retailers are concerned and in consternation about two large Chinese bazaars opening at the end of November. They will sell almost everything (clothing, school supplies, hardware, computer equipment etc.). The smaller store of about 500 square metres will be in the Edificio da Torre, where Maxmat is. The megastore of 3000 square metres will cover the entire first floor of ‘Machim Centrum’ in the centre of the city. The latter building was designed as a shopping centre of excellence. Manuel Severino, a hardware shopkeeper said that he is not against the shop itself, just its size. "It will be a stagnation of trade because the Chinese stores have prices much more competitive than ours. People know that it is best to buy the traditional products, but the decline of purchasing power makes them go to Chinese stores because it’s cheaper." The economy in Machico is already fragile and the traders want just traditional trade in the heart of the city. They think at least a dozen shops will be at risk and that the Chinese shops do not come to invest, just to make a profit. The President of ACIM said, "It will certainly be a funeral and a disaster for the city’s business, which consists mostly of small and medium enterprises, all of a traditional nature." He does not believe these stores will be granted a licence and if so, they will proceed with an injunction. The mayor says he is sympathetic but if everything is legal, they cannot refuse a licence just because the store is Chinese. Licensing is the responsibility of the Regional Department of Commerce, Industry and Energy (DRCIE) but they state they have not received an application for either of the stores. The caption to the photo states that work to adapt the centre has already begun.

Poverty in the street. The shopkeepers in Rua do Carmo are upset about the homeless eating their dinners by their shop fronts and leaving food scraps and bottles. As today is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Social Security are are about to launch the Regional Plan for the Homeless 2009 – 2011 to bring together all the institutions to help the homeless. The volunteers presently distribute food in the Largo de Phelps but they want the homeless to be directed to the Association for the Protection of the Poor night shelter, and canteen in the Rua do Frigorifico. In 2007, the survey showed 80 homeless men with either alcohol or mental health problems. At present, the shelter has only 15 beds and there will be a new night shelter next year to double the number of beds.

Neighbours of Santagro can’t breathe. "If it wasn’t for the smell, this would be paradise," says Fátima Baptista, who lives near the tourist complex Inatel in Santo de Serra. She came for holidays to Madeira twice a year and has now emigrated from England to here. The smell is from a pig farm and is worsening, especially during the summer. The Inatel hotel also complains, saying they have lost hundreds of customers. There have been complaints sent to the City of Santa Cruz, the County Medical Officer and to the Regional Directorate of the Environment. The manager of Santagro says that Inatel knew of their existence before they built the complex. To modernize, in an attempt to reduce 95% of the smell, they have applied for EU funding. The complaints have been passed from department to department and the present law does not take odours into account. The Directorate of the Environment said that the company will have to adapt and they will ensure this happens.

Regional drinks at reduced rate. The European Parliament is expected to approve on Tuesday, the continued application of a reduced rate of excise duty on rum, liqueurs and other spirits of Madeira and the Azores. This should be until the end of 2013 and is considered necessary for the survival of the local industry. There are eight producers of rum/liqueurs on Madeira. In the Azores, nine companies produce liqueurs and thirty-eight produce brandy. Virtually all products are sold regionally. There are 130 associated employees in Madeira and 90 in the Azores. In Madeira, cane sugar cultivation and processing and fruit farming provides employment for about 1000 family-run agricultural businesses.

Madeira in the scene in Lisbon. A newly-launched show, ‘Grab what is honest’ in Lisbon ends with an invitation to the audience to visit Madeira during the Flower Festival. This social and political satire ends with dancers in a colourful display of Madeiran flowers and the traditional instruments like the brinquinho. It was an idea of the producer after seeing tourist pictures of Madeira and is supported by Madeira Islands Tourism. It will run for six months.

Madeira maintains the lead in national tourism. In national tourism, Madeira had the highest average nights stay in August, although it dropped from 5.7 nights last year to 5.5 nights this year. The national average was 3.2 nights. In all regions, apart from Alentejo, which has a short average night stay (mainly weekends), all areas have decreased. Madeira’s occupancy fell from 77.3% last year to 68.4%. Average was 62.6%. The drop in overnight stays in Madeira means that the increase in the domestic market has not made up for the decrease in English and German tourists.

Funchal is the top cruise port in the nation. 211,143 passengers in the first seven months of this year. Lisbon is the second port with 194,634 passengers. In Portugal, the number increased by 5.4% over last year. The cruise industry handles 10 million Americans and 5 million Europeans. In 2020, the estimate is that there will be 10 million European passengers. Presently, 3% of Americans and 1.3 – 1.5% of Europeans go on a cruise. Estimated that by the end of this year, 49% more Portuguese will go on a cruise than last year.

Centre for Arbitration in Consumer Complaints have intervened in more cases this year. The highest number of complaints have been about properties, followed by cars, appliances, laundries, clothing and footwear, then Timesharing. This organization was set up by the Madeiran Government and can only handle complaints related to purchases in the region and if the value does not exceed 30,000 Euros. It is voluntary arbitration between the customer and the business, in an attempt to prevent a court case.

22 farmers from Normandy visit the Centre for Sheep Farming. Farmers with sheep, cattle, wine and agriculture in Normandy, France, are interested in practices used here including the utilization of by-products of the agro-industry to feed sheep and the use of cane sugar by-products for bedding. They were surprised by the lack of brucellosis. The Centre (COM) in the Santana municipality has a breeding herd of about 180 sheep of the breed Bergshaf. ——-Translation toolbar mis-translation ‘Centre visited by 22 sheep’.

Forum Madeira has 10 bicycles for clients. If you have purchased more than 10 Euros from Forum Madeira, you can apply at the Information Desk (Floor 0) to hire a bike to cycle along the Estrada Monumental between the Forum and the roundabout ASSICOM Piornais. From 16 October.

Crewman of the National Geographic Explorer had to go to HCF. The ship had set sail for the Desertas yesterday when a 44 year old crewman had heart problems, and the ship had to return to Funchal, so he could attend the hospital. The ship has now gone to the Canaries. ——It does not say if they still had their 1 hour stay at the bay of the nature reserve.

Electricity will increase by 2.8% next January. It will increase 2.9% on the Continent and 2.7% in the Azores. For the average 40 euro monthly bill, this will increase by just over 1 Euro.

A quick peek at today’s headlines :

Nacional suffer but continue in the cup – The Madeirans were losing 1 – 0 but they made a comeback in the second half. That could have been embarrassing, and even worse if Varzim had scored their first half penalty. There are a couple of videos from the game on footytube.

Marítimo play their home cup fixture today at 4 pm against Santa Clara.

The main headline today in the Diário : Illegal immigration has accomplices in the region : There is assistance for the contracting of illegal foreign labour, people that place staff in restaurants and women in prostitution. Yesterday two women citizens from Latin America were detained, caught ‘red handed’. This year already 21 legal actions have already been opened. The regional director for border controls says the situation here is not as rife as in other parts of Portugal, but nether-the-less there are 10 cases here under investigation. The contacts and the contracts are initiated by restaurant owners and ‘pimps’ on Madeira. The majority of the cases relate to restaurant staff, with Brazilians coming and staying here illegally, on the back of an agreement between the two countries that allows entrance to Madeira for a period of three months without authorisation documents. Those responsible risk fines of between €2,000 and €15,000, but are not deterred. The Diário does make the point that none of the cases known about involve anyone been taken (kidnapped) or working against their will. Hard to believe that there is profit for anyone to be made in employing or supplying illegal immigrant labour, with such high unemployment here and our low wages. With the reluctance of local businesses to take on foreign labour as well, I can only imagine that the restaurants involved are not normally those serving traditional Madeiran cuisine.

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6 Year Temporary AFA Site ; Pestana Plan For Marina Site ; 2 New Roads In Funchal

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:49:02 +0000

(26th September). Today’s main news headline, and also the main photo, shows a beautiful landscape blighted by ugly yellow storage tanks and a black barrier : ‘Temporary’ For Six Years – The site in Meia Légua occupies more than half a kilometre extended. Quercus alerts : The safety of the town of Ribeira Brava is in danger’. The facility, towards the narrow end of Ribeira Brava valley and alongside the access road to Serra de Água, was started in 2003 and completed and inaugurated in 2004. It is in effect, a builders yard, belonging to the construction giant AFA. But it has now grown to over half a kilometre long. The excuse of the government for the site being there for so long, is that it is intended to build a walkway on the left hand side between Ponte Vermelha and the via rápida junction, with the delay blamed on the compulsory purchase of land not being completed. The AFA site is not only a blot on the landscape, but it occupies a strategically important site, that allows central access to all parts of Madeira. The assurance is given is that as soon as work is complete on the via expresso road, the site permit will be withdrawn. That could be a long way off with the stretch between Meia Légua and Serra de Água still outstanding. The president of Ribeira Brava council showed some discontent with the situation, but refuses to get involved in what is a matter of regional government. The environmental agency Quercus says that the site poses a danger to Ribeira Brava town, as long heavy rain could flood the river and site, taking materials downstream into the town.

‘MAC Exposes Illiteracy In Youngsters That Went To School’. The Apostolate Movement for Children (MAC) has exposed the cases of youngsters, now 18, 19, or 20 years old, who went to school but forgot everything they learned. Some cannot understand a simple SMS text message, or even sign their name. One teacher is now voluntarily giving weekend lessons to help these people, in what the teachers union describes as a “dramatic situation”. A spokesperson for MAC says that they had access to school, but because they were rebellious or had behavioural problems, stayed away, or just forgot. Not knowing how to read or write at 18, 19 or 20 years is a worrying development, stresses the coordinator of the Teachers Union of Madeira. Strangely, there are no numbers given, but MAC say it doesn’t have sufficient volunteer teaching resources available to adequately manage the situation.

‘Pestana Group Awaits For The Court In Order To Enter Lugar de Baixo [marina] – Works will move forward one year after the decision of the Constitutional Court’. The administrator of the the Madeiran Pestana group says that there is no doubt: “The project of the Marina of Lugar de Baixo interests the Pestana Group, provided that it adopts to the philosophy that we stand for”. A year has passed since the announcement of an agreement in principle between Pestana and The Development Society of Ponta Oeste, to form a company that will progress the concept through to the construction of a tourist hotel on the marina site. “We’ve already done the outline of a project and have presented a mock-up to the regional government. We will build it on stilts and redimension [the marina?], because we want a hotel of only 80 to 100 guest rooms”. The option to use stilts reflects the continued concern about the invasion of the sea in times of bad weather, and the project will downsize the marina to little over one hundred berths. The group is waiting for the court to decide on some litigation issues before it can proceed, particularly on the change of use of the marina zone and the rights for private development, and will then need around a year to prepare the plans. The intention is to develop the project in phases, that could extend the total development time for up to ten years. The marina at Lugar de Baixo is the biggest political embarrassment for the Madeira Government, because the investment of €32 million is of no use because the designer did not consider the actual conditions for sea waves in that area, resulting in the sea at times engulfing and destroying the infrastructure. To use it as a marina, it will need millions of Euros spent on improving the protection zone.

Today’s sport / football headline : ‘Naval Battle’ Decisive For Carvalhal – The Marítimo Coach complains about a lack of efficiency in his attack but, in today’s game he is only going to change the defence’.

If anyone is interested, the league game between Benfica and Leixões is on RTP 1 at 9.15 pm tonight. Should be good for a few goals, or famous last words?

In entertainment : ‘Madeiran Theatre Sets Upon The Câmara – The amount paid for ‘Calcinhas Amarelas’ stirs controversy’. The comedy play ‘The Yellow Panties”, by José Vilhena, with the participation of Tozé Martin (from TEZEEME Productions), currently playing, is causing some upset amongst other producers in the region. At issue is the value of the contract between Funchal Council and TEZEEME Productions, of € 87.500. The council say that it is only €62,500, taking into account the receipts from ticket sales. Nether the less, it has rankled in theatrical quarters the fact that an outside production has attracted extensive funding, when there are theatrical and cultural groups much closer to home that can’t get the financial assistance they need.

‘Machico In Festival Starting On The 28th – Astronomy, music, exhibitions and sport highlight the Festas do Concelho’. The celebration lasts from Monday until 13th October, to mark the day of Machico district. FESTA PROGRAMME

A 39 year old man died yesterday after being taken to hospital, after he was run over on the via rápida near the school Horácio Bento Gouveia in Funchal. Having been hit by one car, he was then hit by a second surprised driver. After the rescue, firemen had to go out and clean up the area. That’s the 14th road death so far this year. In another incident last night near the Savoy Hotel in Funchal, two women aged 74 and 79 were caught in a ‘hit and run’ case and taken to hospital with grazing, but police have information about the vehicle responsible.

A power cut affected the whole of Madeira early yesterday morning, at around 3 am, for around 40 minutes for some, longer for many. A cable fault was responsible, causing a system overload. The Diário curiously has a picture of Madeira at night, either without a power cut, or teaming with fire flies.

‘Avenida do Amparo Eases Traffic In The West – Road inaugurated yesterday cost €10.5 million and connects Nazaré to the [estrada] monumental’. Government officials were out in force for the opening (can’t imagine why that would be?). Access to the via rápida for those in the west will now be much easier. The new road has two lanes in each direction and extends to 1.2 km.

The pope is to visit Portugal in May next year, but no there is no indication that he will visit Madeira. It will be the first time that Papa Bento XVI has visited Portugal.

The 1.5 km connection between the roundabout at Funchal Port and Pilar will be inaugurated next Friday. It includes the tunnel of ‘Pontinha’ which is nearly 700 metres long, and a new rebuilt bridge .

‘The First Vaccines Against Gripe A Arrive In Portugal Starting On 12th October – Deliveries are going to be phased weekly in proportion to the delivery made’. The pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is to share it’s production releases of Pandremrix amongst countries that have ordered, proportioned according to the amount ordered in total. Portugal ordered 6 million vaccines, in theory enough to immunize at least 3 million people, at a cost of €45 million. It may be that one vaccine dose per person will suffice, but that is still to be determined. Pregnant women and children over 6 months old will be the first to benefit, with children receiving half the adult dosage.

Cota 500 Disrupts Life ; Colombo Livens Porto Santo ; Digital TV Has 65% Coverage

admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:03:34 +0000

(12th September). Today’s main news headline, and also the main photo (unusually striking for the Diário, but not the one shown here) is of a very high support pillar for a new road bridge : ‘Expropriations Catch Bispo – The works of the Cota 500 take away land and generate anxiety. D. Teodoro is one of the compulsory purchase targets, and has already received €13,000 for a plot of 135 square meters’. He is also selling 3 more plots of 31, 591, and 308 m2, in one of the largest public investment projects to date focused on the people of the high zones of Funchal. Crossing the parishes of Santo António and São Roque, the ‘Cota 500′ involves seven tunnels and 9 bridges. Phase one, already underway goes between Vasco Gil and Ribeira Grande, is costing €40 million. Phase two, a total of 4,200 metres, takes the road to Fundoa, and will cost around €60 million, and is in the government work programme that finishes in 2011. The compulsory purchase of land alone will cost €4 million, with 125 plots needed for the complete route. Phase two of the project is causing more concern, because it is not physically on the ground, and the road layout is causing some confusion for landowners because of their plot boundaries. Other people will be affected in different ways, some even uprooted as their properties are demolished. The process of expropriation is not always peaceful. Nothing will ever be like it used to be. The authorities say the project was put to public consultation and officially approved, without any complaints, observations, suggestions, or requests for clarification from the public. Nobody bothers to challenge these projects, because history shows that power is everything and that public interest always takes second place. Problems and complaints from residents are coming now though, mainly about the lack of information, and the use of explosives for the tunnel construction.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about a big party organised by a famous international magazine called ‘Faces’, that is due to take place next weekend, with lots of celebrities expected to come to Madeira. ‘More Beauties – Liliana Campos Is Another Of The Famous That Comes To The ‘Faces’ Party’. All in all around 50 VIP passes are being issued to national celebrities for the event, where the main focus is a party in The Vine Hotel. As usual, I have no idea who she is, as my celebrity knowledge is very thin on the ground in these modern times.

Today’s sport headline : ‘Unprecedented Feat – The tennis player Martim Trueva, still a junior, conquered the national championship completely in the pairs’. He could go still further today in the singles. he is the first Madeiran ever to win an absolute(?) victory in a national championship. I would like to offer my congratulations to Martim, not for the comparatively mundane achievement of winning a national doubles title, but for the much harder achievement of keeping football off the front page of the Diário on a Saturday during the football season. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an editorial oversight.

‘SATA Plane Departs For Porto Santo Four Hours Late – One of the crew was showing Gripe A swine flu symptoms and had to be substituted’. The 8 am SATA ATP flight from Madeira to Porto Santo didn’t leave until midday. Four hours to find a crew member (or three hours according to another article) … I doubt if the delayed passengers would have found that very acceptable for an airline with a base on Madeira, and it wasn’t even the pilot with the with symptoms.

The crowds gathered in Machico yesterday in sítio do Paraíso, where president Jardim inaugurated a new road, which leads to the mouth of the tunnel that goes to Caniçal. The new road is 1,300 metres long, and cost €1.85 million to build. I am not sure whether these inauguration articles belong in the political section, or in Madeira news, these days. I think it all depends on whether Uncle Bertie is wearing his PSD lapel badge.

‘Minor assaults elderly man to steal €10 – After the theft, the thief assaulted the victim, hitting him with a shoe on his head’. The 15 year old minor was identified by police after assaulting a 63 year old man in Nazaré, in Funchal. After knocking the man to the ground, the thief took the money from the man’s pocket, and then took his victims shoe so he could whack him around the head before fleeing the scene. It all took place in front of witnesses. The police managed to identify the boy, and quickly arrested him, only to find that he had already spent the €10, and so they took him back to his grandmothers house. The matter will be reported to the Court for families and minors. It all sounds a little surreal, and with crime this sophisticated, I think the police have little problem in catching the criminals. No doubt granny will give him a good spanking, send him to bed without any supper, and withhold his pocket money to repay the €10.

‘Colombo Disembarks On Porto Santo’. As is traditional in the Colombo festival, Christopher Columbus sails to shore along with Mrs. Columbus (or soon to be) to recreate the arrival and passing of our famous hero (which hopefully is not a tale as fictional or improvable as the claim that Columbus is Portuguese). The event finishes today. In a later article, the secretary for tourism for Madeira said that the 10th festival had been such a success that she wants to promote it nationally and in Spain next year. "It caused a true filling of the streets of Vila Baleira" she said. €108,000 was the cost of the event, and a 53% hotel occupancy rate was achieved.

‘Two Suspects Detained For Drug Trafficking – 2,100 doses of cannabis seized’. Funchal police arrested a man and woman with the drugs, destined to be sold on the streets of Madeira. In another article, police from Câmara de Lobos seized 590 doses of heroin and arrested two individuals on Thursday.

The hit and run driver who seriously injured a man in Lugar de Baixo, before fleeing the scene in a silver grey VW last Sunday, has now been identified. The driver committed the crime of "Omissão de auxílio" (Failure to help), as set out in article 200 of the Penal Code, and now faces up to 2 years in prison, or a hefty fine and / or loss of his driving licence. The victim is still in hospital awaiting surgery.

Petrol and diesel prices drop another cêntimo on Monday.

In this weekends football, Nacional travel to play Rio Ave, currently 5th in the league. The match is at 6 pm, but is not televised. Marítimo play at home against top of the table Sporting Braga on Sunday morning, on SportTV 1 at 11.15 am.

From yesterday’s Jornal da Madeira : ‘Digital Terrestrial Television now covers 65% of the Autonomous Region – Funchal, Porto Santo and the areas west and east already have the signal’. Free DTT, the technology that allows one to receive television of better image and sound quality, is now available to 65 percent of the population of Madeira, according to a government spokesman. DTT will replace the current analogue terrestrial broadcasting, which provides the four general national channels (RTP, RTP 2, SIC and TVI), and also RTP-Açores and RTP-Madeira. Anyone delved into this yet? I am thinking of packing in with Zon, so I am interested to know if anyone has the ‘free’ option and what they think of it.

Chit-Chat & Today’s Photo … Machico At Night

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:05:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … Machico water feature

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Monte Festival ; Cabbies Excluded From Airport ; Damage in Santo Amaro ; 30,000 Vaccines

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:02:53 +0000

(15th August). Today’s main photo shows a crowd gathered at night in a decorated street : ‘Crisis Cools The wager In The Festival Of Monte – The people turned up in numbers, but the recession determined the investment from the traders’. A festival that doesn’t weaken. At four in the afternoon there were those cooking their espetada (beef chunks) over a live flame. What might seem early for some, is not the case for those preparing for a night of Monte, the festival of all festivals. And to help the push, the fountain water and banished vinho seco (dry red wine) was not lacking. Customers for the traders are not lacking, with the Madeirans preferring the bolo do caco with garlic butter, whilst the foreigners prefer the bread with the chouriço (sausage). One trader selling meat to barbeque recalls better times for the traders, saying that he sold 30% of what he sold in previous years, adding that the money is still there for some, but in the hands of the workers it is each time less.

In a second article : ‘With The Crisis The People Ask More From Nossa Senhora (Our Lady) – A new flood expected on the Night of Monte’. 550 kilos of meat for espetada, 450 kilos of flour to make 900 ‘bolos do caco’, they are some of the numbers of the Night of Monte, that brings together the faithful and the devoted to Nossa Senhora do Monte. Last year, José Serafim Gomes, a candle seller (or maybe it’s spark plugs), gathered around a ton and a half of wax. This year he expects to sell more, "with the crisis the people ask more from Nossa Senhora", he says. He benefits from the crisis. Meanwhile José Figueira admits to have sold nearly 2,000 kilos of meat during the day, whilst Luís Figueira is very optimistic about how his bolos de caco are going to sell. Don’t ask me why the quantities of meat differ in the article, I just translate. Nice pic … it’s one of the few trades where you get to see the seller actually burning his stock. I wonder if he actually charges more or less for a lit candle rather than a passive one?

Not much mention of the other six festas ongoing alongside Monte, but there is a short article on the one in Porto da Cruz.

‘Taxi Drivers Of Machico 9 Years Waiting For The Airport. Cabbies forgotten by the Madeira government’. Since the opening of the extension of Madeira Airport on 15th September 2000, the taxi drivers of Machico have been waiting for permits to work out of the airport, alongside the taxi drivers of Santa Cruz, for they consider that their right. They believe that because the airport is also situated in Machico, not just in Santa Cruz. Dispirited, they were forgotten by the regional government. In 2005, a partial step was made, when the Regional Directorate of Land Transport published an order permitting 7 taxis to enter the airport each day, but that arrangement lasted just 11 days, when a court imposed an injunction after a complaint by a taxi firm in Gaula, but took another year to give its reason. It seems that the order exceeded the rights of the issuer. The matter has been batted backwards and forwards by politicians and courts ever since. There seems to be no reason why this story hit the front page today, as nothing has changed. The issue mentioned really is secondary, as Madeira just has too many taxis, around 700 if I remember correctly but it could be more, and the stupidity of the council boundary restrictions just makes the matter worse. It is very environmentally unfriendly too, as any taxi driver crossing council boundaries has to return to base empty, pretty much prohibited from picking up passengers in someone else’s territory.

‘Police Raid Causes Damage In Santo Amaro – The entrance into a house of the father of two suspects was by break-in’. PSP agents break doors in search of evidence. One man, whose two sons are suspected of drug trafficking, had doors broken, drawers turned upside down, wardrobe contents emptied, and windows broken. He is heartbroken, and has hired a lawyer to defend his rights. The police admit that that kind of operation can cause discomfort, but point out that the use of force is legitimate, and is a legal means of obtaining evidence. The father of the two argues that the search warrant had the names of his sons, and so the police had no right to break into his home. The police left with two bags of objects, including a mobile phone and a quantity of money. They questioned one of the suspects and threatened to smash the rest of the house, if he didn’t tell them where the drugs were (it’s not clear whose side of the story this is at this point). The use of force is a tough measure, but the Police Commissioner emphasizes that this only happens when the measures of prevention and deterrence fail.

Much of the same in the sports headline : ‘Big Game In Choupana With The Visit Of Sporting – With the statistics in their favour, Nacional receive Sporting of Liedson’. Liedson is Sporting’s star goalscorer. Also ‘Leixões - Belenenses Open 1st League With Zeros’, 0 – 0 in last night’s opening league game.

‘Man Scared Clients With ’11 Calibre’ Knife’. An individual entered a bar in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos, and placed a knife with an 11 centimetre blade on the bar. The customers, fearing trouble, scarpered and called the police, who arrived and arrested the man. He didn’t use the knife, or threaten anyone, but under new arms laws a blade of that size is illegal.

’30 Thousand Vaccines Against The Flu – There is no proof that the vaccine for normal seasonal flu protects against Gripe A’. The health authority here, IASAÚDE, has ordered 30,000 vaccines to combat flu this Winter. The annual vaccination programme has been running since 1996, and provides free injections for groups considered to be ‘at risk’. The number of vaccinations requested is 10% higher than last year, because the suppliers usually send less than ordered due to product shortages. The vaccinations should start next month. At present nobody has much idea when the vaccines against Gripe A swine flu will be available.

Petrol (95) goes up 1c. on Monday. That’s €1.20 a litre.

(14th August). The social democrats in Machico council want to convert the municipal cemetery into a public garden. The socialists have proposed that the remains be moved to the new cemetery, leaving a large common tombstone with the names of all the deceased be placed there. To meet legal guidelines and ensure that local people who still go there to visit graves are not upset, it could be ten years before the transformation takes place, but in the meantime it is intended to start by dealing with the neglected graves. The PSD rejected the socialist proposal, saying it was unworkable because the cemetery is over one hundred years old and the records are not complete, but they do intend to leave some sort of memorial there to remind people that it was once a cemetery.

For a change we managed a whole day yesterday without mentioning Porto Santo, but I cheated and held this one over from the Jornal da Madeira yesterday, just to give us a break. "Economic Activities" brings four cases – Porto Santo – Inspections during the Summer continue until late September’. The trade increases exponentially during the Summer, as the tourists flock there, and trade obviously soars, particularly in restaurants. Hence the Regional Inspectorate of Economic Activities is currently on Porto Santo making sure standards don’t slip. Since early Summer 4 establishments have been identified and entered into due process for non-compliance with rules and laws. The charges are : Not displaying a price list; Not having a livro de reclamações (complaints book); Lack of hygiene in the establishment; and, Thursday morning, the transport of food items in unhygienic conditions, brought the latest charge. A spokesman for the agency, Valentim Caldeira says he disagrees with those who say, "Porto Santo is a land where anything goes" and stresses that "in accordance with the experience we have had in recent years, Porto Santo is increasingly a destination for quality. Especially in the restaurants. There have been significant improvements and, hence, as is natural in these circumstances, the number of violations is becoming smaller, which leaves us satisfied, without prejudicing our ongoing duty to inspect in a preventive manner that avoids these offences". As for supermarkets, there have been no complaints. No price list … if that is an offence I am surprised there are many bars left open in my town … actually, now I think about there aren’t that many left.

Chit-Chat & Today’s Photo … Machico BP again

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:30:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Vic … Machico beach party last Sunday pm (last photo, promise) – see you were keeping close guard on the very important Coral beer pump there Vic!

It should be a rip-roaring weekend for those way out west … Star gazing Saturday in Calheta, Wheat threshing in Prazeres, off for Lapas in Paul do Mar, and then Banana showtime in Madalena do Mar. I will try and dream about receiving some photos from a benevolent reader.

Have a good weekend wherever you are!

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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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If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment may take a while to appear as it will need to be checked. If you register, your first comment will be checked, but thereafter your comments will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

3rd Road Death This Week ; Sweet Tripe ; Quercus To Continue Quinta do Lorde Fight

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:26:31 +0000

(18th July). ‘Tripe of Aveiro’ gets its own space. "The real taste of Aveiro" is gaining market strength, and now has it’s own kiosk in the Centro Comercial Anadia in Funchal. After a year of tests, the sweet tripes with secret recipes went on sale on 2nd July, and is proving a success. Not even the employees know the recipes that make these animal stomachs so delicious. Amongst the flavours are chocolate, passion fruit, and strawberry, or they can be filled with ice cream or soft sweet(?) eggs.

‘Fatal Accident In Paul do Mar – A man died following a skid and the car turning over’. The third road death on the island this week happened at 7.40 am this morning in the tunnel going from Jardim do Mar. The 32 year old man was found in cardiac arrest and died later on in Calheta Health Centre.

***************

‘Bernardo Martins Rejects Candidature – The MP and former president of Machico Câmara already said to the local PS that he declined the invitation’. The socialists were banking on Bernardo to stand in the elections in Machico, but he refused at the last minute, highlighting more problems in the leadership of the party. He says he "does not feel prepared for a new political battle" and is said to feel a lack of support within his party, which may indicate is he preparing to quit his active political life.

‘Jerónimo And Portas Are The Only Certainties – Nacional party leaders want to include Madeira on their campaign trails’. With two elections in September and October, most of the leaders of the political parties want to cover all of Portugal, but normally Madeira is a secondary objective for most, but this year the six representatives in the Republic could make all the difference in what is seen to be a close battle. So far only the leaders of the PCP and CDS-PP have confirmed they will be coming here for the official campaigns which start next month. However Manuela Ferreira Leite, leader of the PSD social democrats will be on Madeira at the end of this month (26th). She will speak at the festival (rally) in Chão da Lagoa which serves as the starting point for the PSD-M campaign. Efforts are also being stepped up to bring Prime Minister José Sócrates to the Fonte do Bispo festival (rally) next month, the equivalent event for the socialists as Chão da Lagoa.

The environmental agency Quercus is not going to accept the decision to close the file on the inquiry into planning consent for the development at Quinta do Lorde (see Friday), and plans to appeal directly to the Procurador Geral da República (Attorney General’s Office). Quercus is very unhappy that it took so long to review the case, and still insists that the construction violates laws aimed at protecting the site from development.

Looking through the political section of the Diário has become a real chore recently, with election fever rife in the media if not in the population. It seems that normal political life has already gone out of the window, with just about every story containing the word ‘candidate’ or ‘election’. It probably seems worse than it actually is, as the other news is suffering a Summer shrinkage, which maybe is a natural phenomenon, or more likely is because reporters and newspaper staff are on holiday. Anyway, my point is that the names in the local articles probably don’t mean a thing to most readers, and the policies and manifestos are even more meaningless when all the political parties except one have absolutely no hope of coming to power. The Machico story above is a good example, but as it was on the front page of today’s newspaper, I included it. Anyway, bear with me, as I will continue to check the section each day, but will have less to report given the situation I have explained.

Chit-Chat & Today’s Photo … Funchal Rooftops

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:04:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Sarah … Funchal rooftops

Also, many thanks to Tobi for this video footage of the beach party in Machico last weekend.

Tobi also said : “Been to Quinta do Lorde today, and they reckon the properties will cost €4000 per square metre, bit pricey I think especially stuck out there”. The website is here QUINTA DO LORDE but all I could find was a video.

That’s 4 x what I paid 6 years ago … wish I could sell for the same. Thanks Tobi.

I am getting so many attempts to put spam comments on the blog, it is taking me 20+ minutes a day to deal with them, so I have altered the settings of the blog to close the comments facility once a posting is 10 days old. I don’t think that will affect regular posters very much, if at all. I have also set up a spam filter that will automatically delete any comments that include naughty words, and these spam mails are usually full of them, so hopefully that will help also.

Beware if visiting the Diário website, as currently it is displaying adverts that cover the page you are viewing, and nearly every new page that loads, and they are set up to trick you into opening them up rather that closing them as you would normally do with the ‘X’ button. One of them installs an awful soundtrack on your computer, that runs as a hidden process that you cannot even close down through the ‘task manager’. I had to shut down my computer and restart today to get rid of it. I am really cheesed off with these ads, and might have to revert to another news source if it continues.

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Chit-Chat & Today’s Photo – Machico Beach Party

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:00:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … Machico beach party Sunday pm (early on).

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Chit-Chat & Today’s Photo … Swinging Machico

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Vic … Machico beach party Sunday pm

This article reports on two new spas and gardens that opened last month DAILY TRAVEL NEWS

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Chit-Chat & Today’s Photo … Machico Beach

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0000

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … the newish Machico beach (whilst still nice and sandy).

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Jazz Festival Success ; Illegal Extraction In Machico ; New Driving Licence Requirements

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:24:39 +0000

(6th July). ‘Another Illegal Extraction Of Aggregates – It takes place in Machico, threatens houses, has been identified officially, but it continues operating’. The council has authorised a reshaping of the land for agricultural purposes, but the construction company instead is taking out earth and gravel from the site for its own use, at the site in Landeiros. Despite involvement at police, council, and government level, the unlicensed activity continues. Dozens of houses located beneath the site are considered at risk, and residents are alarmed with the situation, and the apparent inability of the authorities to do something to stop the activity which has now been ongoing for 6 weeks. Some residents were minded to block the access route to the site to prevent lorries entering, but were warned by the police not to do so. The residents have particular concern in case there is heavy persistent rain. The construction company believes that it is acting within the terms of its licence.

‘Festival Has Always Been Rising – The 10th Jazz Festival worked out well’. It finished Saturday night and deserves a mention for the good organisation, getting better each year, and with the change of venue adding to the event. "Santa Catarina park is magical" said a spokesman. The president of Funchal council is already thinking about next year, and thinks that 2011 should be the year to pay homage to the women of jazz. Vânia Fernandez was a woman last time I looked?

‘To Have A Driving Licence It Is Needed To Know How To Drive In Tunnels – Community directive obliges knowledge in theory and practice’. Europe has demanded that Portugal incorporates this requirement, amongst other things, into domestic law. Any candidate for a driving licence must now have a good theoretical and practical knowledge of driving in tunnels, in order to improve safety in the criticised infrastructures. Several attempts have already been made to get Portugal to incorporate this requirement, so far without success, but it looks that this time it will happen, and is something clearly very relevant for Madeira. There are also other new safety requirements covering the need to revalidate driving licences for bikers aged over 50, and also new tougher requirements for medical assessments for conditions relating to eyesight, diabetes and epilepsy.

‘Walk Through The Serra Finishes In Tragedy – 53 year old man died after falling around 25 metres on the São Vicente levada’. The victim on a Sunday walk with his family and friends along the levada at Ribeira do Inferno, fell to his death. The reasons for the accident are unclear, he just fell and died almost immediately. A mountain rescue team took four hours to retrieve the body because of difficult access.

A new police station in São Vicente is to be inaugurated at 6pm tomorrow.

At 6.28pm yesterday evening the Diário helpfully published a late bulletin that an 18 piece guitar group was performing in Ribeira Brava church square … starting at 6pm yesterday!

‘Vodafone wants To make Available New Smartphones At A very Cheap Price Until Christmas’. Aside from companies, those who want them most are young people, without sufficient money to buy them. To help, Vodafone and various partners, is to offer these powerful devices at less than €200.

In football and today’s main photo, a picture of a striding Cristiano Ronaldo, surrounded by trophies : ‘Ronaldo Tries His Luck In Madrid – The foreign journalists warn that the player won’t have an easy life in Real. Today 80 thousand supporters will welcome the star to Madrid’. At last CR737 makes the move, after what I thought had been a quiet few weeks since the transfer was agreed. It’s taking up about half of the TV and radio news this morning, and live pictures show fans gathering at the stadium for the introduction which doesn’t take place until tonight. I guess the introduction will be pretty long distance for 99.9% of the fans, the important thing for the club will be getting them to spend their cash on expensive new football merchandise with Ronaldo’s name.

I know there are lots of British readers who check in on this blog, and whilst that doesn’t imply that a love of Madeira also implies a liking for Madeiran music, I felt some duty to help boost the audiences for The Madeira Mandolin Orchestra, by announcing the dates for their tour of the United Kingdom this month. Accompanied by Portuguese tenor Carlos Guilherme, the program consists of performances of music by Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Bach, and they also accompany Carlos in a selection of Neapolitan songs. Established in 1913, the Madeira Mandolin Orchestra is the oldest established mandolin orchestra in Europe, but in terms of average age it is considered to be the youngest in the world. Performances :
July 16, 2009 – St. Paul’s Church Knightsbridge
July 17, 2009 – Petersfield Utd. Reformed Church – Petersfield
July 18, 2009 – Maldon Town Hall, Maldon Essex
July 19, 2009 – The Albert Hall – Nottingham
July 20, 2009 – Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield
July 21, 2009 – The Grand, Clitheroe
July 22, 2009 – Brangwyn Hall, Swansea
July 23, 2009 – Lichfield Garrick
July 24, 2009 – The Forum, Bath
July 25, 2009 – St. George’s Bristol

(5th July). ’38 Confirmed Cases Of Gripe In Portugal’. 30 of the swine flu cases have been registered in the last week, including the first cases of direct transmission. UPDATE 6th July : A 20 year old woman was taken to hospital in Funchal suspected as having gripe A. She was known to have spent time recently in the company of people from Mexico, the United States, and other high risk countries, and the precaution was taken after she displayed the swine flu symptoms. Tests cleared the woman of the virus, and she has now been released.

Rats In Cancela ; Cape Verde Route Cancelled ; Poor Dine Free ; New Helicopter For Funchal

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:35:00 +0000

(26th June). ‘Cancela Is A Rats Nest – There are prisoners who complain to the guards about rats in the cells’. A plague of rats is ravaging the zone around the prison in Cancela. The situation is not new, and as well as prisoners complaining, so is the trade union representing the guards. Apart from a programme of rat extermination that is seemingly not working, nothing is being done. The problem was first reported 2 years ago to the prison management. Some prison guards live in accommodation on site, and they are also affected.

‘Poor Entitled To Dine For Free’. From next September, the poorest people will be dining on the premises of the Association for the Protection of the Poor for free. As well as a daily lunch and an evening snack, they will also be served meals on Sundays, as announced by the regional office of the Secretary for Social Affairs, Francisco Ramos. The government has taken a lot of criticism recently, through opposition parties and the church, for not doing enough to take care of the poor.

‘Machico Without Flag – The council of Machico has requested the Regional Directorate of the Environment to postpone the flying of the Blue Flag until next year’. According to information from a council, the decision is due to the fact that works are being undertaken to reinforce the foundations of a river wall, which may cause the reduction of water quality to standards below those required by the European Union.

(25th June). ‘Direct Flight To Cape Verde Cancelled By TACV – The new international airport in São Vicente is not yet approved’. Following a report here a few days ago about the new scheduled flight between Cape Verde and Madeira, the airline TACV announced on Wednesday that the plans had now been cancelled. The service was due to start next month, with flights and holidays already on sale here. To blame are delays in the works for widening and strengthening of the runway over there, and hence not yet being properly certified. The approval will take place only at the end of the work and after an international inspection to ensure that new infrastructure meets all the parameters required for an international operation, particularly to receive aircraft the size of those that would be used in the Madeira operation, the Boeing 757-200.

(24th June). ‘Heliatlantis Restarts Services With A Smaller Helicopter – The company has started a partnership with Helibravo for the Madeira operation’. The service will start again next weekend to offer charter flights and other services (aerial imagery and inter-island taxi). Helibravo is based in Lisbon, and that company will have full responsibility for the operational performance of Heliatlantis. The helicopter to be used is a Robinson 44 Clipper, manufactured in the USA. It is several years old, but much newer than the 16 year old craft it replaces and more economical to operate. As you can see from the picture, it has already been painted with it’s new livery. The old craft was withdrawn after being taken away for repairs, and due to less business and the loss of government funding. As a result charter prices should be lower. The old craft will now be used for tourist flights over the city of Lisbon. However, the full terms of the agreement are still being negotiated.