Madeira News Blog

Today’s Photo Thanks to  Eiryl … another photo of a lava cave in São Vicente

"Madeira: land of the zimmer frame. God’s waiting room, where pensioners sunbathe in their overcoats. Madeira, like the sticky bottle of wine named after it, sweet, old-fashioned, lingering in the back of the cupboard. Why would any youngish person want to spend their winter holiday in a place that shares its name with their granny’s favourite cake?" … "It’s reputation as a haven for the elderly is just not fair". SUNDAY TRIBUNE

"On a visit to that little fishing village [Câmara de Lobos], I stopped off at one of the fisherman’s bars on the right hand side of the bay. One old sea dog there emptied pint glass after pint glass while filling my head with fantastical stories about the island. According to him, there are very short, ancient-looking creatures living here that are not actually human. ODD BUT INTERESTING – THE PEQUENINOS

“Madeira is the seventh destination in the world, after the Douro Valley in Portugal, the City of Mexico and Riviera Maya in Mexico, the Principality of Andorra, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and the Eastern Townships in Quebec, Canada, to recognize the value of a measurement system like the SMED and to sign a partnership agreement with the CED. As in these destinations, the Madeiran authorities will set up a working group whose objective will be to implement the recommendations made in the official SMED report” IT’S OFFICIAL … MADEIRA HAS BEEN SMED’ed

Thousands stranded abroad as Scots airline Flyglobespan goes into administration.  SCOTLAND’S biggest airline Flyglobespan collapsed tonight as a last-gasp multi-million pound rescue package failed – leaving hundreds of employees facing the axe and thousands of holidaymakers stranded abroad. Up to 1000 jobs could be lost and all of the company’s plans have been grounded, leaving as many as 10,000 tourists stranded overseas. More than 5000 more holidaymakers face losing Christmas and New Year holidays as a result of the firm going in to voluntary administration. Edinburgh-based Flyglobespan had been trying to secure a s10million cash injection to carry on operating. But talks finally broke down today after three months. Bill Munro of Barrhead Travel, Scotland’s biggest independent travel firm, said: "This is a grim day for the industry and we will do everything we can to help. MORE – DAILY RECORD This was announced last night, and as the airline flies from Edinburgh to Madeira on Mondays, it will be bad news for many.

Elaine (East) kindly sent in another article from the Jornal da Madeira in the Xmas Traditions series :

CHRISTMAS 2009 – Living Christmas with the joy of the presépios

Since the year 1223, when Sao Francisco decided to represent the time and occasion of the birth of Jesus, and celebrate Christmas Eve with his brothers and citizens of Assisi in the forest of Greccio, presepios have been the essence of Christmas throughout the world.

The word presépio means ‘a place where they collect livestock, corral, stable ‘. However, this is also the name given to the artistic representation of the birth of Jesus in a stable. In Madeira and Porto Santo, the presepios always mark the presence of the Christmas season. Made of various materials, they continue to be one of the attractions both in private dwellings, as in churches and more recently in public places. At the time when plastic was not yet part of the everyday life of the population, the presepios and Madeiran lapinhas were constructed from paper, painted with vioxene, the sheets stuck with gum arabic (glue), or maize or flour paste. In early December, the sellers or grocery stores had a large quantity of vioxene, powders of several bright colours and glue that would serve to make the lapinha. After acquiring these products, it was time to get down to work and join the family for the construction of the lapinha. Once the structure was made, which may be of wood, trunks or scallop cane, the paper was put on, painted and before it had time to dry, the powders of various colours were applied, with emphasis on gold and silver.

The shepherds and various images of regional motifs were placed with great care, between the scene of the killing of the pig and the Madeiran arraiais with the representation of the procession, and the philharmonic band in the bandstand. These objects had already been acquired in previous years, or were renewed with purchases from the speciality house in Funchal. To make the streams they used cotton, and the ponds with fish were placed on small mirrors which gave the aspect of bright water. The cardboard templates could also have been purchased ready-made from the sellers or other commercial establishments, or cut out, because they had cardboard sheets with drawings of houses, churches and castles that were used for this purpose. After skillful gluing at the edges, these produced beautiful buildings.

The image of Baby Jesus was placed in the cave, Mary and Joseph were in the centre of the lapinha and they always had the prominent place with the oil lamp that would illuminate the scene during the Christmas season. Vegetation like the typical ‘goatlings’ and moss gave colour to the presépio. Depending on the space in the houses, the presepios were of different sizes and were the cause of admiration by visitors in rooms adorned with cheerful themes, where visitors were offered a glass of liqueur, honey cake or broas. For those who had less space at home, the solution was the ‘rochinha’. With socas made of scallop cane artistically arranged in the form of a pyramid, at the base was left a space for the cave in which to put the images of the Birth of Jesus. The paper that could be extracted from bags of cement, and others, was also painted with vioxene which gave it a brownish tinge, and glued to the socas and then painted with brilliant powders.

At present there are still many people who are faithful to the tradition of the presépio of the ‘old style’, and in many locations competitions are organized for the presepios and lapinhas, showing a lot of creativity.

Many thanks Elaine … I remember translating a story last Christmas on the subject of presépios and lapinhas, which implied that the construction of these was often very much a matter of social status, with the wealthy deliberately spending more money to have bigger and grander exhibits than their less well off neighbours, who they would then invite around to show off their ‘wealth’. The poorer families would often use items of fruit to make their displays more attractive, as well as costing less of course, but would make a lot of effort all the same to ensure that they were not the laughing stock of their village. LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Madeira-web has been back to Câmara de Lobos for today’s photo.

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

Speed limit remains at 40 km. In 15 districts on the continent, Portugal has decided to limit the speed to 30 km per hour in some areas. The deputy mayor of Funchal, Bruno Pereira said there is no legal support to implement this change in Madeira. The areas in Funchal where accidents happen most are limited; Estrada Monumental, Camacho de Freitas and Rotunda D. Francisco Santana. Limiting the speed is not the answer, it would be better to utilize traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. "The reality of Funchal is different from a city like Lisbon since due to characteristics of the streets, even if the speed limit is 50 km/h, it is a value difficult to achieve." The Police Commissioner said, "The Region has done much in the area of road safety." Examples are pedestrianization of areas, and other ways to reduce accidents involve education, improvement of roads by lighting and road surfaces, police surveillance and radar monitoring.

Complaint against the BIR. (More details after Der’s headlines yesterday). The father of a 17 year old boy is accusing a member of the BIR (Rapid Intervention Brigade) of assaulting his son in the early hours of Sunday. The Public Ministry is investigation his complaint. "My son and two friends went out at night, as do the young, and were preparing to return home when they were approached by the BIR." He said the three were on the Caminho da Achada at five o’clock in the morning, near the house of one of them, and talking about the possibility of the alleged victim returning to his home by motorbike. "His friends were saying that he’d better take a taxi home because he had been drinking." The BIR arrived and wondered what they were doing there. They asked the boy if he had been drinking and he replied, "What matters if I drank or not?" A member of the BIR slapped him across the face and his friends were advised to run or they would also be hit. He took his son to a private clinic for treatment for a cut lip and marks to the eye and face. The police cannot comment at present while ascertaining the facts for any criminal charges.

Fall of nine metres leaves man seriously ill. A 40 year old man is seriously ill in hospital after an accident yesterday on the fly-over on the highway at São Martinho. The Opel driven by him  was negotiating a curve and went through the safety barriers, ended up falling about ten metres. It is not known what caused the accident but it was raining heavily at the time. In a separate accident, a 50 year old man died immediately after falling only a few metres down the stairs in his apartment block.

Madeira lost tourists and Euros. More about the Oriana being unable to stay yesterday. The port was full with the MSC Fantasia and the Costa Marina, so there was no room for the Oriana to moor. The schedule depends on the order of arrival of the ships, and the owners, P & O, decided that the Oriana would still visit and rely on the lifeboats to ferry passengers to the shore. The ship stayed for a little over an hour for replacement of crew members but then left for Southampton, due to the bad weather. APRAM lost 10,000 Euros in port fees and other services. 22 buses had been hired, 10 as shuttle buses to the city centre and 12 to take 600 tourists to visit various attractions around the island. The failing to land 1,700 tourists had an impact on; Monte, where the ‘carrinhos de cesto’ men were waiting – expecting more than 200 tourists, the cable car, Botanical Gardens, Madeira Wine Cellars, 14 tourists had booked on the whale watching catamaran, others had booked jeep safari trips, and also the shops and cafes. An estimated loss of 30,000 Euros in revenue.

—- Sad photo of Oriana returning to the UK without staying. Yesterday, the complaints highlighted that it was a loss of older UK tourists. They need to find a solution as cruise ships are getting larger and becoming more popular. The port is increasing passenger numbers whereas today there is yet another article about a fall in hotel revenue. Average October room rates were 29.1 Euros, a fall from 35.1 Euros last year, a fall of 15.4% in room revenue and the total income of the hotel industry fell by 13.1%. Occupancy rate in October was 51.4% (57.7% last year) and so far this year, an overall fall of 11% from last year.

Debt varies with the pleasure of the political colour. Government and opposition have very different calculations with regard to the debt of the region.  According to the Socialists and Christian Democrats, the debt by mid – 2010 could reach more than six billion Euros. Whereas Ventura Garces, the Secretary of Planning and Finance and Filipe Ramos, the PSD spokesman, say the debt is less than a third of that value. The Secretary offered to "Teach the opposition to count." Ventura Garcia noted that the direct debt is only 18% GDP and according to Filipe Ramos, the current expenditure has been reduced by 5.2%. The debt will grow by more than 180 million Euros in 2010 to ensure the use of all funds. Garces acknowledged that the unemployment level is presently 13,000  and he will support some companies that will create jobs. Garces said that the State in the last legislature, cut off all possibilities for the Region to borrow. The opposition read the numbers differently. The PS accuse the Government of disguising the total disarray of public accounts. The PS spokesman listed, in a long speech, the various portions of the debt, which already exceeds the value of the regional GDP. "We walked into the abyss which leads to the governance of the PSD." The PCP said that already the Government cannot hide the scale of the financial disaster and that, "The reality shows that Madeira has reached the point of collapse." A BE member alerted the possibility of a new jump in debt because "Madeira would have to invent 500 million," to meet all commitments. The PS reckon the debt is worth 5 billion; direct and indirect debt, debt of public sector business, securitization of credits, operations of PATRIRAM (Ownership and Management of Public Assets), the unpaid burden and operations of Via Litoral and Via Expresso. The reduction of debt authorization from 129 million to 79 million is why, according to Ventura Garces, debt to suppliers remains above 85 million Euros, which will increase in 2010.

Electricity tariff increases by 2.5% in 2010. Around one euro on the average monthly bill of 40 Euros.

Saturday is Market Night in Santa Cruz. Saturday December 19 from 22.00 hours. Fair of Traditional Sweets and Liqueurs produced by the Casas do Povo, between 13 and 20 December from 18.00 to 22.00 in the Praça do Municipio, where the presépio is being constructed. Evening entertainment form 20.00 on the stage erected in the Praça do Municipio. Friday, the entertainment will be traditional Christmas carols. Saturday, dancing to Latin sounds and karaoke. Sunday, the groups from the Casa do Povo de Santa Cruz.

Conventual sweets sold in Rua da Carreira until January 6. ‘Smells and flavours of Christmas to the Kings’ theme. Promoted by Funchal Council, and the Association of Gastronomic Memories. The kiosks selling the conventual sweets close between 19.00 – 20.00 hours. Selling, torroes de Santa Clara, papas-de-anjo, barrigas de freira, sericaias and encharacadas. The Association sells two types of bolo-de-mel (Madeiran honey cake), according to a recipe from the XV – XIX century and one from the XIX – XX century. They differ due to the use of soda. They are also relaunching a sweet called ‘negritos’.

From Martin L & Paul (Paul do Mar), some more news on the Flyglobespan situation :

Airline Takes a Dive – Some news from Scotland that has a Madeiran slant to it and could be worth a space on the blog.

Flyglobespan the Scottish travel agent and airline went into receivership yesterday with all flights being cancelled immediately. They flew to Madeira every Monday direct from Edinburgh and the Madeiran flights were usually fully booked, although in the past few months there were flights with several unsold seats. They have been in operation since 2002 and flew to several destinations in Europe, Canada, Florida, and Egypt. The airline had experienced cash flow problems and was trying to re-negotiate its finances but the deal did not proceed and they were unable to continue in business. It seems a few thousand passengers are stranded at various destinations, and although some them will be covered through the travel agency insurance arrangements, many will be unprotected as they booked the flights direct. Madeira is totally dependent on air traffic for its tourism and this demonstrates the precarious nature of the airline business and although Flyglobespan’s input to Madeiran tourism was probably minimal, it is nevertheless a loss of revenue to the island. Another event that could affect tourism income over Christmas is a threatened strike by British Airways staff across the entire Christmas holiday of 11 days.

You can get more details on the BBC news website. (in the Scottish section for Flyglobespan if you need clarification). BBC LINK

Article title: Flyglobespan, Scotland’s biggest airline has collapsed (Source: BBC News) :

“An operation is under way to fly back to the UK thousands of people left stranded after Flyglobespan, Scotland’s biggest airline, collapsed. Its parent company, Globespan, entered administration on Wednesday, with all flights cancelled and 800 jobs going. About 4,500 passengers are stranded – mostly in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt. The Civil Aviation Authority will be repatriating about 1,100.” LINK 

The Labour MP for Edinburgh North Leith Mark Lazarowicz said: “It will potentially be a massive problem to those who have booked their Christmas holidays with the airline, or who are overseas now.” Source including film: STV SCOTLAND

Helpline: Flyglobespan passengers are advised to call a helpline from 10 am on Thursday and visit the website for further information in the meantime (see the link below). The call centre number is 0871 271 9000 for UK calls and +44 141 332 3233 for people calling from Europe.

‘Information for Customers’: official notice on the appointment of joint administrators to the Scottish travel firm, The Globespan Group plc and Alba Ground Handling Ltd including ‘Information for Customers’ FLYGLOBESPAN

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

Debt of €10 million surprises Porto Moniz – The debt increased 84% in 2008.

ANAM in technical insolvency. I have been through the newspaper and can’t find this article, so maybe it is just in the printed edition of the Diário? I will have a look tonight. But ANAM, who operate the airports of Madeira and Porto Santo, have been in a ‘technical insolvency situation’ for eternity, because of the huge debts they have to service through the last airport expansion.

It is Madeira that has more growth in the PIB (GDP). In 1995 Madeira had GDP / PIB growth 11% lower than the national average. In 2008 it was 28% higher.

Charge interest on delayed payments is the answer – Companies fed-up with a government that doesn’t pay on time. Companies that do work for the Madeira government that have not been paid are looking for both settlement, and interest on the outstanding debt relative to the delay in settlement. Madeira, over the last 12 years, has already paid €103 million in interest charges on delayed payments, and that excludes banks and credit institutions. Many of these companies are in financial difficulties, and news of authorisation for the Regional Government to borrow €79 million to pay suppliers (even though a much larger sum was requested and rejected) has left some anxiety in the air, as no one knows who will be at the front of the queue for the €79 m payouts. The ‘shareout’ will save some businesses, but with the total supplier debt standing at around €200 million, others will be left out in the cold. This does not include those on ‘payment arrangements’ (contractual arrangements to spread costs), who don’t know whether the next instalments will be paid or not. The legal recourse to recover such debts are not often used by companies for government debt, as there may be repercussions of course. One person interviewed, from the Association of Commerce and Services, believes that the €79 million will be used exclusively to pay the hundreds of small and medium sized companies.

Today’s main news headline : Justice Police catch Madeiran paedophiles - Suspects were made defendants after a sequence of home searches made on Tuesday throughout Portugal. "Second life" also happens on Madeira. The JP police took part in a national operation on Tuesday to combat paedophilia on the internet. At least two locations in Funchal were searched, but there could have been more. The national operation named ‘Second life’ resulted in the identification of 13 suspects, some of them Madeiran, who have been caught with computers and equipments used to store pornographic material involving children and hence committing criminal acts.

‘Crociere’ already has five ships registered in the ‘Mar’ – The biggest European cruise company opts for Registro Internacional of Madeira.

‘Jig’ and historic thrashing in the hour of farewell – Nacional is the first Madeiran club to score five goals in one game in European competitions. Ruben Micael shone on another perfect night. The final game of the Europa League for Nacional, until then without a win. But, what results lacked in the 5 earlier games, were soon forgotten. Not quite a perfect night as described, as the Austrian opponents actually scored first in the 5 – 1 result. In the other match of Portuguese interest, Sporting lost to a single goal by Hertha Berlim, a result that doesn’t affect Sporting’s guaranteed passage to the next phase of the competition.

Paul (Paul do Mar) has kindly come up with a ‘match report’ :

Nacional blow lightweight Austria away

CD Nacional bid farewell to the UEFA Europa League with their biggest ever European win, thrashing FK Austria Wien 5-1 in Funchal as slack defending consigned the visitors to bottom place in Group L.

From behind
With coach Manuel Machado still too ill to perform his duties, Predrag Jokanović captained Nacional’s sinking ship, but soon had reason to regret stepping into the breach. Schumacher gave Austria the lead on 21 minutes but, from then on, it was all Nacional. Rúben Micael and Mateus gave them the lead by half-time, the former doubling their advantage after the break before Darko Tomašević and Felipe Lopes pumelled the visitors into submission.

Sloppy opening
Nacional started slowly, Leandro Salinas screwing a seemingly unmissable chance woefully wide before a ducking defender allowed Milenko Ačimovič’s cross to come to Schumacher, whose first-time shot arrowed through Rafael Bracali’s legs and in. Then the tide turned. The hosts levelled two minutes later, the unmarked Rúben Micael completing a languid one-two with Mateus by stroking home from inside the box. The latter saw the Austria defence part invitingly again on 33 minutes; his run from midfield met no challenge before he flicked deftly inside the undefended Robert Almer’s right-hand post.

Classy saves
Having been afforded little chance to do so earlier, Almer showed his skills between the posts by pushing Nejc Pečnik’s goalbound downward header on to the crossbar before the interval, and his opposite number proved no less agile as the second half kicked off, with Bracali brilliantly denying Schumacher a second.

Resistance crumbles
Austria then gave up the ghost. A swift break through midfield on 57 minutes saw Rúben Micael breeze through for Nacional’s third, and it was 4-1 four minutes later, Tomašević rising unmarked to head in a sweeping Rúben Micael free-kick. Felipe Lopes made similarly light work of heading Nacional’s fifth from Mateus’ cross.

UEFA report with video – first success in the Europa League group stage

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 Thank you in anticipation.

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