Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … A great photo from the Flower festival in 2008. Tobi sent me so many great photos of the event that I couldn’t show them all, but I kept this one back to brighten up a rainy day, and this does seems to be the appropriate time.

‘Rivers Ready For The First Rains – Government Assures That The Cleaning Works were Already Done’. The water courses of Madeira have been cleaned ready for the rainy season, as they always are at the end of the Summer / early October.

The giant pumpkin weighing 45 kg in Calheta, as mentioned yesterday. 

Nacional managed a  1 – 1 draw in Austria last night in the Europa League. The Madeiran Ruben Micael scored for our boys. Austria Vienna only managed one shot on target according to one website … and scored, so Nacional might feel they were a little unfortunate. MATCH STATS That takes up most of the front page of the Diário today.

Académica host Marítimo tonight at 8.15 pm. SportTV1

UPDATES :

For anyone planning their weekend here, the Diário weather forecast might be useful : ‘Madeira On Orange Alert – Rain is going to continue until Sunday’. At times the rain will be heavy over all of the archipelago. The wind will also be strong, especially in the high zones. An orange alert is the fourth highest on a scale of 5. The Regional Service for Civil Protection advises against trips into the mountains by car and on foot. Cancel those bbqs and fishing trips, and stay at home and write something for the blog instead, or send in some of your favourite photos or videos … that’s my advice.

A couple of photos from yesterday, and as usual the tunnels can’t cope with the heavy rain.

One of the articles today is about leaking Rodoeste buses, where apparently two buses leaked under the heavy rain, and passengers had to use umbrellas inside. The Diário says there were two cases reported, the company says it was only one.

The PSD had to cancel their political rally in Santo António, and the concert by top Portuguese artist Mickael Carreira. The rain in this case is a bit of a political leveller, with the social democrats unable to outperform the other political parties that have no money for such events.

Today’s main Diário news headline : ‘LESS PETROL – The Madeirans consumed 4 million less litres between 2007 and 2008. And the crisis favours the cheapest’. Petrol consumption dropped from 58.8 million litres to 54.9 million last year. Diesel was the most purchased fuel with 129 million litres sold, nearly two thirds of the total of fuel purchased (183 million litres). The cheaper ‘sem chumbo 95′ actually increased in consumption, as people switched from the more expensive unleaded 98 octane.

Many thanks to Paul for sending this, and Elaine for writing it :

Popemobile will Carry the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima. The statue will arrive at the airport on the 12th October. Religious, civic and military personnel, the Bishop of Funchal, philharmonic band and children’s choir will celebrate the VIP arrival. It will be then taken by the Popemobile towards the Praca Municipio and Se Cathedral. It remains there until the 18th then goes on tour around the island. Last visit was in 1948.

For the Protection of the Poor Reinforce Food Service. The Social Services will help the charity to now serve all meals on Sunday and want the homeless to be directed towards its building. Serves 25 breakfasts, 80 lunches, 45 snacks and expects to serve up to 50 dinners to the needy. Not needed so much during summer due to seasonal agricultural work but now increasing in usage due to poorer weather. 380 people registered, 178 use its services regularly.

Exportation of Douradas Expected to Increase 80%. 700 tonnes of the farmed fish Dourada expected this year. Mainly exported to the Portuguese mainland. The aquaculture here competes with the Mediterranean aquaculture. Warmer Atlantic waters increase the reproduction cycle so the commercial size of the fish is reached in 10 – 12 months rather than 13 – 16 months.

Regional Government Funding of Social Housing and Lots in Porto Santo. Rental property needed for the elderly and lots for self-build for young couples. Helped 380 Porto Santo families so far.

Economy. The ECB find it ‘reassuring’ that the banks are ‘adequately capitalized’ as they may only loose 400 billion Euros by 2010. The Euro falls against the dollar and gains against the sterling (0.9142). Ireland has its 2nd referendum vote on the Lisbon Treaty today.

BE Propose New Versions of ‘Park and Ride’. The political party BE (Left Block) want to help reduce congestion in Funchal by increasing public transport use without affecting the taxi drivers.

Revalidation of Passes Clogs the ‘Horarios’ Balcony. Students have had since the beginning of September to renew the annual bus passes but have queued for the past three days. 35.50 Euros per month.

Culture. Madeira surfer ranked 8th out of the world top-10. Fatima Lopes, the Madeiran fashion designer, has had her ‘Air’ collection shown at the Paris Fashion Week. Fado singer, Mafalda Arnauth, returning to the Choupana Hills Resort on the 29th, 30th and 31st October. Exclusive dinner, 75 Euros, including drinks.

Rain. More road accidents, damage and political campaigns affected. Two areas of Funchal need the water diverting as the rainwater is not draining adequately. (Long holiday weekend here as Monday is a National Holiday).

And also many thanks to everyone for the various snippets in the comments!

———————————————————————————————————————————-
If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or 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. 

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.

(more…)

(16th July). ‘Neighbourhood Of Bad Name And Scorn – Permanent tension. Inhabitants are unwelcome in the market for employment. Children without ATL(?). Families attempt to flee from there’. Nogueira doesn’t have a solution. Madeira’s government creates better conditions, but the residents wreck everything. It’s an area where unemployment is a true reality, where the residents suffer the fact nobody wants to employ someone living in Bairro da Nogueira, where the social problems just get worse. The population is stigmatised by drug addiction, where children have nowhere to pass their free time this Summer because the ATL(?) was vandalised and closed years ago. The more structured families appeal to the government to be moved out, while the neighbourhood becomes each day more of a ‘social labyrinth’. The area is of ill repute as far as Madeira is concerned, and the most scorned part of the island. They look to new alternatives, but this neighbourhood is at a crossroads of problems without solutions in sight. This long article is quite a scary read, it really is. I don’t think I have ever read such a damning write up about anywhere on Madeira. Whilst the day times are comparatively quiet, at night the streets come to life with people with drug and alcohol problems, and then there is often violence. The police are not respected, and the area even has the makings of a no-go zone. Everyone is watching everyone else, with a particular eye for strangers says the article.

‘Worker Dies Of Electrocution In Works In Bemposta, Machico’. The accident occurred when part of a cement mixer touched high voltage cables. A 39 year old man died, another was taken to the emergency unit in Funchal Central Hospital with serious electrical burns. An investigation into the incident has commenced.

‘Police Operation Against Drug Barons Bursts Into Estreito’. Estreito de Câmara de Lobos was the latest target for armed police wearing helmets, bullet proof vests, and protective clothing, in the fight against drugs. The operation started at daybreak yesterday, and took locals by surprise. The police were equipped with a court search warrant to raid a premise heavily suspected of being a ‘drugs barn’. Two men were arrested and detained, one was later released. The police also seized a vehicle, drugs, articles related to drug trafficking, and cash exceeding €20,000.

‘CMF Pays ‘Time & Hours’ Bad Debt Of 2005′. Funchal Council is making gains with it’s efforts to clear old debts, but the auditors of the court responsible for checks say that the council could be penalised through paying interest to the state. Some of the debts go back as far as FOURTEEN YEARS! Under the state programme which loosely means ‘Pay On Time’, auditors discovered that 91% of the backlog related to debts from 2007 & 2008, amounting to over €9 million. Much of the debt was not accounted for properly, and one debt for the supply of sand from a construction company was 4,943 days old.

‘Madeira On The End Of The List’. We are in the region of Portugal that builds the most new homes and apartments, and with the lowest rate of rehabilitation. It is also the region with the worst record for delays in building works.

In sport : ‘A Record In The International Meeting On Madeira’. Pole-vault, or ‘Jumping With A Stick’ as the Portuguese actually translates, brought a new national record in the XIV International Athletics Meeting on Madeira yesterday. A junior athlete managed a height of 5.11 metres at the sports stadium in Ribeira Brava.  

  
Photo caption : With the opening of a new miradouro (viewpoint) in Achada at a cost of €93,000, Funchal now has 24 miradouros.

‘Rivers Flow Against Europe – Europe wants to re-naturalise our rivers and water courses, but Madeira moves towards artificialisation’. Under a European directive (200/60/EC), all member countries should make their rivers and streams comply with ecological quality objectives, and be there for the enjoyment of the people, moving back towards a natural state without evidence of man made intervention. Hélder Spinola, of the environmental agency Quercus, says that Madeira is going in the opposite direction, and not only in Funchal. The EU directive is aimed particularly at combating pollution, although on Madeira, because of the specific nature of the topography of the island, there are other concerns such as safety and public protection. The head of Quercus is particularly concerned about the more frequent floods, caused by the higher frequency of heavy rainstorms that deposit more water in shorter periods. He refers to the choking of waterways with increasing numbers of concrete walls, bridges and roads, spreading throughout the island, although the effect is now slowing if only due to the lack of money for new works. Any specific new initiatives now seem to focus on water quality, and not on the wider issues of managing natural water resources.

Portugal news : As of this morning 107 cases of Gripe A (H1N1 swine flu) have been recorded, but of these 104 victims have already been treated and released.

’45 workers contest their dismissal by the Savoy – The decision was made yesterday in a session with the trade union representing hotel workers’.  The 45 workers, who did not sign the termination agreements from the SIET Savoy Group, will challenge the collective dismissal through two lawsuits, with the objective of returning to work. 55 workers who accepted the termination of their employment received a payment based on length of service, and are now able to receive unemployment benefit. The Savoy hotel was closed a couple of months ago, in preparation for demolition to make way for a new hotel.

‘Friends of the Park’ are in action Saturday in Areeiro and Cabeço da Lenha – The Association continues the project of planting trees and shrubs which began in 2001′. The indigenous trees and shrubs will be planted in the Ecological Park and in the Field of Environmental Education in Cabeço da Lenha. The general public are invited to participate. Those interested should make contact by phone or fax on 291783999, or by e-mail to amigosdoparque@gmail.com before 5pm on Friday.

‘Astronomy Night – Night of the stars – Calheta puts out the lights on Saturday to assess light pollution’. The tour of ‘Astronomy Night’, to mark the international year of astronomy, moves to Calheta this weekend. Measurements will also be taken to establish the levels of light pollution, and to make the population aware of the "dangers of the use of excessive light", which cause "serious environmental and social damage".

(15th July). ‘Living Close To A School Does Not Guarantee Places – School denies ‘connections’ and says that the morning shift is not available to all students’. The secretary for education says that living near to a school does not guarantee a place, and although there are rules that may give priority to locals, parents are finding out that the reality is quite different. Also, as many children will be allocated an early or late ‘shift’ in school, this also is not determined by ‘connections’. The later shift has a worse reputation in education terms, a situation denied by one school leader in the article.

***

It’s the Banana Exhibition / Festival in Madalena do Mar this weekend. I believe it starts Saturday evening and runs through to Sunday night, but I am sure someone will correct me if necessary.