Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … Great shot of the Brazilian tall ship Cisne Branco here recently.

The second photo, sent in by Jenny, is of a tornado spotted over Estreito da Calheta this morning … thanks Jenny.

"It is very clean and neat, it reminded us of Hawaii. The city is built on rolling green hills. There is a tropical feel with beautiful foliage and temperate weather. The ride around town took about an hour and half. We did learn that the name Funchal come from the fennel plant. Which grows in abundance on the island". CRUISE VISITORS BLOG Hal will probably get a bit of a shock shock when he looks at his blog readers stats tomorrow … I tried to leave him a comment, but couldn’t get it to work, so don’t waste your time.

I am not sure what the exact relevance of this image of Uncle Bertie is, but I liked it anyway.

The next round of the Portugal Cup (taça) has been drawn, with games to be played on or around 22nd November. Madeira’s three remaining teams have drawn as follows:

Nacional v Fátima, Vieira or Mafra (yet to be played) v União, & Camacha v Vigor Mocidade

Pick of the draw for me (just because I like the name) is the Fishermen of Costa de Caparica of the 3rd division v Sporting. My money is on Sporting for that one, but that depends if there are no holes in the nets, their pitch and lines are well defined, and whether the  (s)kipper does his job well, and Rod comes into play, but either way it won’t be plain sailing.

One of yesterday’s news stories was that 11 Madeiran farmers have formed a ‘Club of producers for Modelo’, each with a contract to supply agricultural products to the supermarket chain. What a great idea, local farmers supplying fruit and veg to our local supermarkets, I wonder who thought that one up (and why didn’t they do it years ago?).

Another story yesterday about a young lady in Câmara de Lobos getting an electric wheelchair was nice to read. The 12 year old was given the wheelchair by the local council and a local community association. It might surprise some people to know that those who need wheelchairs don’t normally get given them. It is up to family to raise the money, and as you might guess that is often very difficult. However, there is a way to obtain wheelchairs for those who need them without spending any money, and it is ironic that smokers are the key. Cigarette packets brought on Madeira have a small sticker or seal called a ‘selo’ on the back (they peel off quite easily). A collection of such stickers that weigh one kilo can be exchanged for a wheelchair. We in Ribeira Brava have an ongoing collection, and to my knowledge at least 3 wheelchairs have already been provided, and we are very close to getting another. The stickers weigh very little, so many thousands are needed to reach the target each time, but if anyone smokes, or knows smokers, and can collect these and get them to me then it all helps the cause. Thanks in anticipation.

Yesterday’s news again very kindly supplied by Elaine. As I didn’t get a single response to the appeal for other news translators, then how long Elaine’s generosity will continue I don’t know, but when that stops the blog pretty much stops :

Large-scale emergency drill at the airport. In November there will be a simulation of an accident involving an aircraft on the ground, involving all means of assistance. Around 250 volunteers, mainly recruited from university students, will represent passengers, crew members, as well as family and friends of those who travelled on the plane. Participating students could learn about activities necessary for the development of tourism in Madeira; how the airport operates to ensure aircraft safety and emergency care. The airport will give more details on November 6th. The last emergency exercise was two years ago in 2007.

Regional Gerontology Plan 2009 – 2013. Presented to the public yesterday morning. This is the first of four plans to be presented by the end of the year by the Regional Secretariat for Social Affairs; plans for the homeless, domestic violence, and children and adolescents. This plan has 14 strategic objectives and 41 steps to be complied with, by 2013, to ensure a better quality of life for as many elderly people as possible. 15% of the present population is over 65, an increasing trend. More than 2,800 elderly are receiving income supplement (CSI) and the elderly are also entitled to financial, health, medication and food supplements. There are 1,300 beds in nursing homes and a waiting list of 800, and 3,000 have domestic help. They want to train and give financial support to family members who will work as carers, to keep elderly people in their own homes.

A survey by DECO in Portugal found that only 25% of the elderly have a healthy diet and the price of food is the deciding factor, then taste and food quality. Unhealthy eating habits worsen with advancing age. 3% experienced hunger in the previous week. Reasons for a poor diet are: dental problems (35%), financial (24%), lack of appetite (13%) and medications (12%).

Funchal Tuning Club accompany the Virgin. These are people who modify their vehicles, although illegal here but legal in some parts of the EU. This will be on November 4th when the statue goes from Acadas da Cruz to Ponta do Pargo. It will be in the Diocese of Calheta until the 26th November when it goes to Ribeira Brava and Ponta do Sol. —– An illegal convoy? Will police be in attendance? A bit different from the Popemobile, which was the first vehicle, then bikers, now tuners….next?

Between 2 – 8 November, the Science Centre in Porto Moniz will have the photographic exhibition of the first visit of the Pilgrim Statue to Madeira in 1948. The exhibition has hundreds of photos from the Vicentes Museum and is touring the country.

Elements of the civil protection will act as observers in a military exercise in the Azores. From Friday to Sunday, the Chairman of the Regional Service of Civil Protection and Firefighters (SRPCBM), the Head of the Division of Emergency Planning and the Commander of the Fire Department will be participating for the first time. They hope in the future that the defence forces in Madeira will be able to actively participate. It should help contingency planning.

Health professionals still reluctant to be vaccinated. The vaccination campaign against Gripe A (swine flu) did not begin as planned on Monday as IASAÚDE is still validating the list of priority cases, due to the nature of the vaccine, a strategy known as ‘play it safe’. Some health professionals on the priority list are refusing to be vaccinated, partly because it is a new vaccine, as has happened in France and Germany. The campaign should start on Wednesday or Thursday.

Purchases paid by credit or debit card may be more expensive. Portugal is implementing the Brussels Directive on Payment Services which means payment by cards will be taxed. This is to be enforced on November 1st. The President of the Association of Commerce and Services of Madeira questions the legality and appropriateness of this directive as "the rights of consumers might not be safeguarded, because it is not clear under what circumstances the fee is charged or not." It is not in the seller’s interests as they will have to notify the customer of the fee. DECO (consumers’ rights organization) also suggest it is illegal, as you cannot sell the same product for two or more different prices, according to the method of payment. The Portuguese are the only Europeans who do not pay ATM fees for withdrawal although there is an annual card fee. —— I do not know if it will affect people in Madeira who use Portuguese internet sites etc.

Museum of Sacred Art closed until November 3rd. Redevelopment of the exhibition space as some of the art pieces are going to be in an exhibition in Lisbon. Also, the City of Sugar Museum is shut at present.

Regional Library in Panteada might have longer opening hours, including Sunday. No decision yet. Due to an increased number of users, from 17,000 in 2005, to 35,000 this year. Mainly an increase in young people, and the elderly population are under-represented.

Portuguese Community Centre will open in London in 2010. 550,000 Euros (500,000 pounds) from Lambeth Council. The site, a building owned by Lambeth Council, will be confirmed and then the lease signed. The original idea was in 2004 and the money allocated in July 2008. In Lambeth, there are around 35,000 – 50,000 Portuguese, 15 – 20% of the local population. They are the largest foreign community in the area, owning cafes, restaurants and businesses. The Stockwell area has been named ‘Little Portugal’. The centre will also cater for immigrants from Brazil, Mozambique and Angola, and have advisory services on health, education, housing and employment. The heads of the centre also want to raise funds from the Portuguese authorities.

Quinta do Lorde development within the law. The Legislative Assembly of Madeira approved a 30-page report stating there was no illegality in the construction of the private enterprise in Caniçal. Illegalities had been raised on grounds of the areas of construction and environmental impact. There had been a previous 10,000 page report compiled by prosecutors, mainly 4 political parties and environmental group Quercus. The licensing was approved by all authorities, but there were particular problems with intrusion into the public maritime area. The resort was designed by an American company and will have 740 beds and 370 rooms spread between the hotel and tourist villas and apartments. It will employ 200 and indirectly employ another 100.

The Regional Government want the EC to create a specific financial program for the outermost regions. The MEPs are presently visiting the region to evaluate funding. Nuno Teixeira, the Madeira MEP (PSD) admitted that it will be difficult to achieve as it will be necessary to "change the rules that apply to all Member States, including the fashionable issue of GDP and its use as a criterion, which led to the departure of Madeira and the Canary Islands". The Regional Secretary of Planning and Finance, Ventura Garces, wants an extension to the time allowed to implement the EU funds, so Madeira is not penalised by loosing them.

There might be an agreement drafted about placing of election posters.  During this year’s election campaigns, the numbers and sites of political posters was bad for tourism and led to many complaints from rival political parties. There might be an agreement drafted for a uniform system which can then be adopted by each county. There were agreements several years ago to reduce the visual impact, but they were voluntary, and of course didn’t last long. We still have posters up in Ribeira Brava nearly three weeks after the elections finished, and the PSD annual ‘Chão de Lagoa’ rally posters usually stay up until the following year. Der

New book by Dan Brown will go on sale in Funchal at midnight on the 29th October. ‘The Lost Symbol’ will be on sale at Betrand stores, FNAC and Tangarine. 140,000 copies will be available locally and in Funchal, it will only be available at that time in Betrand Forum Madeira. A limited and numbered edition will be available from the FNAC website, with a 2 Euros voucher. I can’t believe they hope to sell 140,000 copies, that’s more than one between two for the whole population of Madeira, including tourists! Der

‘Mission Recycle’ collection of electric coffee makers. ‘Delta Q’, who make coffee pods, in partnership with ‘Amb3E’ are bringing their recycling awareness campaign to Madeira. If an electric coffee maker, either used or damaged, is taken for collection for recycling, the person will receive a discount of 50 Euros off a ‘Delta Q’ coffee machine. The first ten deliveries in the morning and afternoon will receive a machine at a token price of 10 Euros. The collection van will be at the Praceta do Infante in Funchal on November 3, Largo da Praça in Machico (6 – 8 November) and Rua Eng. Pereira Ribeiro in Ribeira Brava (9 – 10 November), and Praça do Infante, Funchal (11 – 13 November). Website www.missaoreciclar.org.

Modelo wants to increase quota of local agricultural products in regional stores to 50%. Within four or five years.

Municipality of Funchal to pay homage to the hero of Poland Jozef Pilsudki. Marshal Jozef Pilsudki was responsible for the independence and unification of Poland after World War One. He spent from December 1930 to March 1931 in Madeira. The President of the Polish Parliament and the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Lisbon will attend the day of celebrations. The roundabout at the intersection of Rua do Esmeraldo and Caminho do Pilar will be named after him at 11.30 tomorrow. A bronze bust by the sculptor Ricardo Veloza will be unveiled at 12.00 by the building of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira in the Rua Dr. Antonio Jose de Almeida. After lunch with president Jardim at the Quinta Vigia, the delegation will visit the exhibition of photographs assembled by the Vicentes Museum at the Regional Directorate of Tourism.

From the front page of today’s Diário :

Expropriation in São Vicente with police and gunshot into the air – Owners contest the moving in of construction machinery without explanations on the part of the council. Sounds like another bungled compulsory land purchase. The photo shows a JCB diggers with it’s shovel raised, ready to attack a cultivated allotment or garden, but it stopped in it’s tracks when it heard gunfire.

Pioneering plan to help the aged – There are 41 measures including projects for retirement and voluntary and paid work. Jardim Ramos says that life doesn’t finish at 65. The elderly also want more money. Continuing the news coverage from Elaine’s report above.

The main headline today : Privatisation in sight in the Hotel School – The government project will offer a solution to the difficulties that have marked the management of the establishment, where €4.5 million of Madeira’s annual budget are spent annually. The guardianship doesn’t confirm the efficiency.

Nacional is not going to contest the incidents in the ‘Luz’. After a dreadful performance by the referee on Monday night’s game against Benfica, it seems Nacional will not take the matter further. It had so much TV and media coverage anyway, that there should be no need for Nacional to take action, it should be initiated by football’s authorities.

Assembly wants Sócrates to pay for a new hospital – Proposals of the PCP and PP on the regional law of finances were accepted. Now the regional assembly of Madeira wants to retrieve what the ‘garrotte’ took away. Nothing new there then, but I guess it formalises the approach already taken, that a new hospital project should be state rather than a Madeira project, but of course it is all about who would pay for it. If I was prime minister Sócrates, I would want a very good explanation of why Madeira was able to give away a very valuable piece of real estate and €45 million for redevelopment to Marítimo football club, but has no money for such essential health service improvements?

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(more…)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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