Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Eiryl … Sunset over Funchal, taken from São Gonçalo

"My first impression of Funchal is very favorable.  It is a charming and fashionably upscale city with a definite European flavor.  It is also a very clean city.  Shopkeepers sweep the sidewalks in front of their stores (most US cities could learn from this) everyday.  There are lots of sidewalk cafes with tables with tablecloths and waiters in formal attire.  The food has been very good and the selection excellent". SAILORS STORY

"Madeira – Going off the surf map / Surf Madeira – Hawaii of Europe". Great video here, but whether it was taken before concretization, I don’t know for sure, but judging by the final few seconds I suspect it was. SURFERS DREAM

Don’t forget that today is a public holiday for Portugal, and public transport will be affected. Known as Implantação da República. It commemorates the proclamation of the Portuguese First Republic in 1910.

Tobi sent in this video of a drive through foggy Cancela :

Rock Fall Makes Circulation Difficult On The Access Road To Jardim do Mar – The size of the object is impeding the movement of heavy vehicles. The large rock was obstructing the road yesterday morning in the district of Calheta, and buses and other large vehicles had to turn back. It was pretty chunky I must say, and right in the middle of the road. There is no photo, but there is a video on this page HERE … somebody tied red stripped warning ribbon around it, but I don’t think it really made much difference. Photo taken later shown below.

A similar problem at Lugar de Baixo, near the tunnel to Ponta do Sol, where torrents of water carried mud and stones, blocking off the marina main access.

UPDATES :

Today’s main news story : ‘Government Diverts ‘Polis’ To The Stadium Of Barreiros – A programme of urban rehabilitation was contemplating the construction of a ‘multipurpose building’ (polis) in the Barreiros for parking and to interface with public transport. The government of Madeira abandoned the idea and instead channelled the funding of the ‘polis’ for the remodelling and improvements of the football stadium of Marítimo’. The ‘polis’ projects were created in 2000 to generate environmental and urban recovery in 39 Portuguese cities, with a total budget of €1.17 billion of state, local authority, community and private funding. The original plan, approved by the government here in 2004, for this particular ‘polis’ would have provided 531 public parking places, a ‘park & ride scheme’, day care centre, and trade and commercial premises amounting to 36 thousand square metres. I wonder if this was saved for this election week by the Diário, as it’s a pretty embarrassing story for the government and PSD social democrats, especially as we all know the Marítimo football club is one of Uncle Bertie’s great passions. So a building that would have provided jobs and services for the people of Funchal, and improved public transport and traffic flow in the area, was traded in for a super-duper new look stadium for a small football club of little interest to the majority, who not only got given a stadium that belonged to the people, but another €45 million on top of that to make it into a showpiece.

‘Human skull found on beach’. A human skull was found yesterday in the early afternoon, in the middle of the beach at the Bathing Complex of Ribeira Brava, more precisely in front of the channel of a small stream that flows into the area. Nearby some bones were also found, that are also presumed to be human. It seems that the bones would have been swept down by torrents of the stream, whose flow has increased due to heavy rainfalls during the night and Sunday morning. Due to the location, any theory of the remains being deposited by the sea have been ruled out, as the location is far from the reach of the waves. In an area upstream of the beach there is a cemetery, but it is unclear is the stream runs close to the cemetery. Police are investigating the matter. The gruesome find was made by two young couples from the mainland, as they strolled along the beach. They promptly asked for help from a restaurant in the area to alert the PSP. You can imagine, this was talk of the town last night, but the story was that it was a human head! I suppose I felt some relief this morning to find out that it was a skull and bones, not for any reason other than it doesn’t sound as nearly as gruesome.  

And Elaine from Garajau has very kindly provided news stories again :

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Rain causes more landslides. In Nun’s Valley, the rain caused a landslide near the entrance of the tunnel. Most roads were only temporarily closed. People driving too fast on the slippery roads led to at least four accidents.

A motorist’s car overturned in 2001, after hitting fallen rubble and mud on the road 101, which they said should have had warning signs up, having been reported earlier to the Control Centre. They originally sued Vialitoral and were awarded 20,849.75 Euros but the company appealed, stating that road conditions were not its responsibility and that the driver was at fault. This appeal was partially dismissed and compensation  reduced to 15,000 Euros.

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CDS/PP leader says people must vote according to their conscience. Usual political electioneering in São Vicente. The CDS/PP leader ironically and critically said, "We must be sympathetic to Dr. Alberto Joao Jardim. He looses his head often. He also complained about Jardim’s criticism of the PSP, saying that Jardim is "creating a climate of intolerance in Madeira." "We asked him to be more tolerant, respectful of the opposition, political freedom, religious freedom and civil liberty that I still think there is in the region."

Porto Santo launches project to revitalize the city. The municipality are still implementing the plan to revitalize the city area. There have already been areas defined where the nightlife clubs and bars can exist, to try and reduce noise in residential areas, with complaints from some owners whose premises are now not in the permitted areas. The plan is to include an urban park, recovery of derelict buildings and make them re-habitable, and general upgrading. The project is called ‘Building with art and quality’. There is also going to be improvement to the municipal green areas, viewpoints, land acquisition and landscaping, and recovery of the church surrounds, graveyard, chapel and fountains. Better wireless access and IT implementation, scholarships, environmental education and implementing the Eco-schools project. They are going to create a bird observatory and encourage the increased use of renewable energy and agriculture production, especially organic farming. They are trying to attract tourism by better quality Feasts of St John, art, a mobile bandstand, a new Promotional department and increase international conference tourism.

In another article, young people have little future on the island due to a slowdown in tourism and the construction industry, and flights are a worry.

Warning if you visit Porto Santo, rabbit shooting season starts today!

Elderly should be with their families. Jardim inaugurated a new residential home in Porto Moniz, which has 30 residential places, 20 for day care and 14 rooms especially for Alzheimer’s patients. He insists that the elderly should be the responsibility of the family and homes/hospital care a last resort. The grandparents also have a role in the upbringing of grandchildren, especially with parents often having to work, whereas the modern lifestyle in Portugal of sitting them in front of the television  is an educational disaster. There should also be implemented a network of help with meals and laundry facilities for people in their own homes. The building has four floors, with medical and nursing services, social room, activity room, gym, cafe and kitchen. Investment over 2 million Euros.

Camacha market upgrade. There is to be an improved auditorium and covered agricultural market in Camacha.

Historical pieces mysteriously disappear. Jose Manual Coelho, PND, accused the PPD/PSD council of removing a  Henry Costa bronze commemorating Churchill’s visit after the Second World War for renovation eight years ago, and it has not been returned. Also, a disappearance of a valuable stone fountain dated 1920 when a road was being widened. He accuses Social Democrat Arlindo Gomes of knowledge of their whereabouts.

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(29th September). The last of today’s headlines : ‘Half [of the ?] Regional Commission Asks Congress – The petition was delivered last week. But the leader Gouveia himself had the idea’. The PS-M socialist leader João Carlos Gouveia has pre-empted critics about the poor showing on Madeira in the elections, and 28 members of the Regional Commission of the Socialist Party last week signed a document asking the chairman of this body to urgently schedule a Congress meeting, with elections to choose new party leader. The initiative was not disclosed, as it was not considered appropriate, being in full campaign for the elections. Various other candidates are discussed. Well, the last two election results already proved what a shambles the PS-M are, and with 2 out of 3 seats lost in the Assembly in Portugal on Sunday, is the hope now that this news will improve matters for the local elections on 11th October? Is the logic there that people are more likely to vote for a PS with a unknown future leader than a poor current leader?

‘Madeira will submit the proposed amendment to the Law of Regional Finance – Jardim counts on the new composition of the parliament and coherence of the parties for the adoption of the revision’. President Jardim announced yesterday that the amendments, proposed by the PSD-M social democrats will be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic. Jardim says that the current law has choked Madeira’s state funding. He was of course hoping that his own PSD party would be be in government, as he had already reached agreement on what would happen, but he will now have to bank on a reduced majority government being out-voted.

The local election campaigns officially restarted today. The PSD-M noise car has already passed my house at least 4 times today.

‘Albuquerque Beats Jardim – Albuquerque has an advantage of nearly 4,000 votes compared to the leader of the PSD-M’. Within 15 days the social democrats will get to know who is worth more in Funchal, the PSD-M president of the câmara or the PSD-M president of Madeira. The two will not be competing head to head, but the comparison of results between legislative (national) and local elections is compulsory, and the same has happened in previous regional elections. Miguel Albuquerque’s support for re-election to Funchal council will have more meaning than ever before, as he is the pretender to the throne of Alberto João Jardim, who is rumoured to be bowing out in 2011. In Sunday’s election Jardim achieved 25,511 votes in Funchal, as top-of-the-list for a seat in the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, or 43.7% of the vote, a fairly low achievement, whereas four years ago, Albuquerque managed 29,395, or 50.3% of the Funchal vote. What a useless comparison, with people not only voting for different people, but for different things. What would be more useful and entertaining is to give them both a pistol, and have a crack of dawn winner-takes-all duel, on top of a grassy knoll (a contingency plan, just in case they both miss). Not wishing to be politically incorrect (before the blog snipers come along), it would of course all be in fun using paint ball pistols.

The high level of abstention in Funchal is a bit of a concern in Funchal. One of the reasons is explained in today’s Diário : "As reported, Portugal has a huge number of voters who are unable to vote. Because they are dead, or because they live in a foreign country". The latter case gives us some cause for forgiveness, as ballot papers get lost and delayed when sent abroad, as happened in Venezuela at the weekend, but as for the dead voters, do they really have excuses, if so I would like to hear them. And there was me thinking, that in this terminal stage of life, one automatically qualified for an important position in the PSD-M, so does that in fact mean that our current rulers do still have some blood movement in their veins, or is that just afterlife twitching we see?

‘In the series ‘Through Madeira’ : ‘Porto Moniz : ‘People’s tribunals’ still decide’. Residents discuss life in the towns two cafes. They analyse and pass ‘sentences’. The Portuguese Justice System doesn’t know, but in the region of Porto Moniz, two courts exist (‘Relação’ & ‘Supremo’), curiously both quite near the town hall. It is in these two places that the common life and politics of the town are discussed, and ‘sentences’ given out. They article says that if the president of the câmara kept his office window open he would be able to hear what was being said from his desk. The  power of the ‘Supremo’ is sufficient to change the political scene in the area, and the Diário hints that if the outgoing câmara president might have listened more closely, he would still be around to serve another political mandate next month (another Jardim ‘casualty’). The two courts fall into the categories of regular and supreme, and there is a protocol between the two. Rui Nelson, is one of the youngest ‘judges’ of the ‘Relação : "When we do not agree on a certain subject, we take the matter to the Supremo", he said. The Diário, having hyped up the story, then takes it back to reality, a powerless discussion forum … but is it?

(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.