TODAY'S PHOTO : Thanks to Wil ... The wonderfully colourful fruit market in Funchal

Source : Diário de Notícias 11/5/2008

Main story of the day is about the newfound ability of people to seek bargain flights if they know where to look on the internet, particularly since the liberalization of the market previously within the TAP airline monopoly. Recognising that there are many last minute bargains as well as many late booking price hikes, they recommend various websites for those who wish to test out the possibilities, which is fairly new territory for Madeirans.

The websites listed to find the travel bargains are .www.tap.pt,www.sata.pt,

.www.terminala.pt,www.logitravel.pt,www.netviagens.pt

Us English speakers of course have enjoyed this luxury for years, through a growing number of search websites that scour the airlines own websites for bargains ... in fact it's probably the only thing that us foreigners living on Madeira actually pay less for than the Madeirans themselves, but with the advice and tips given in this article that is probably about to come to an end! If anyone finds any of the recommended websites to be any good, please let me know.

The other main story is about the 'heavy metal' contamination of land at Praia Formosa in some old works which were once part of the Shell complex. It does not seem that there is any danger to the public whilst the land lies dormant, but Shell retain the responsibility for the 'clean up', and that will probably be done through a landfill project. The article suggests that that landfill site will be outside Madeira, so lets hope that's the case. 'Heavy metal' flavoured drinking water is something I have no desire to taste.

There appears to be a shortage of nurses in our health service. The union representing nurses reckons there are places for between 700 and 1,000 staff, and in part blames the conflict between the private and public sectors for the situation.

An interesting little story about a man involved in a car accident in 2004, who was found to be just above the top level of alcohol in his system, and as a result received a hefty fine and driving ban. He has been fighting ever since then to clear his name, claiming that the manufacturers published margin of error of the breathilizer used for the reading, if applied to his own reading would take him below the top alcohol limit of 1.2g/l and result in a much reduced punishment. After 4 year of fighting, he has now lost his case in the appeal court, and is probably well out of pocket in terms of legal costs and expenses.

The big story this last week in the UK about the Irish couple on holiday in Portugal who got absolutely plastered and practically unconsious (through drinking strong beer) in front of their kids, who then had to be taken into care by the Portuguese authorities. The kids were reunited with their parents the next day, who then took an earlier flight home to avoid the court appearance. They now claim their drinks were spiked. I think the Portuguese people will understandably have a fairly jaded opinion about the parenting skills and responsibilities of some of its visitors.

Only 78 blog readers yesterday, the by far lowest number for months. Did you all go off to the Lemon Festival instead?

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TODAY'S PHOTO : Thanks to Vic ... another shot of the mega-cruiser 'Independence of the Seas'

Source : Diário de Notícias 10/5/2008

The big story of the day was about the mega-cruise ship in Funchal, and the thousands of visitors who have gone to the quay for a peek. The Diario proudly announces that there are some Madeiran passengers, and Portuguese workers on the vessel.

A few days ago I published a photo from Helen showing a beautiful sunrise from Pico do Areeiro ... rather a high point at 1,756 meters, and probably rather cold a lot of the time. So rather suprising then is the fact that the densest populations of lagartixas (geckos or lizards) live there, as normally when it is cold they go into hiding. In fact it was believed to be a fact that these geckos not only dislike the cold, but they also dislike high altitudes. Needing solar energy just to be active, let alone to reproduce, food supplies are the additional oddity in the equation. The author of the study speculates that the geckos thrive on leftovers from visitors to the picnic areas, and these leftovers generally being of fatty content are what causes the thriving populations. In addition, the geckos of Pico do Areeiro are the largest on Madeira, in size and weight, and it is this additional size that allows them to absorb more solar energy than their smaller cousins.

The big drug court case that has been underway in Santa Cruz for several weeks has not had very much press coverage, but after a stoppage will recommence next Friday. The 19 people are charged with a variety of drug trafficking offences going back to 2006, in particular involving a seizure of nearly 6,000 kilos of 84% pure cocaine in Ponta do Sol. Also found by police during their investigations were heroin, hashish, and large amounts of cash, mobile phones, weapons, hand grenades, plane tickets, gold and jewellery. Of the 19 accused, 3 are in custody, 3 have to report to the authorities, and the rest are seemingly on the loose. Bit worrying to think that there are 16 individuals on the loose who have been handling weapons and hand grenades, never mind the drugs! I struggle to believe the quantity of 6,000 kg, but I have revisited the article twice to check. I reckon it should be 6kg or 6,000 grammes.

The rate of attempts at suicide is on the increase amongst youngsters. Drug dependency and nervous anorexia are named as two of the causes.

The Regional Government of Madeira wants to reduce importation of agricultural products, and has commenced a project to achieve this.

 

Opened to the public yesterday, the swimming and leisure complex at Ponta Gorda (Funchal) is for now free to use. Damaged severely during April's bad weather, it was calculated that €870,000 would be needed to completely restore the facility. It is the first such facility to reopen in Funchal, although the swimming pool is not yet ready for use. It will remain free for users until 21st June.

In the same article : "Funchal Council (CMF) is not going to tolerate more violations to the rules of security of the enclosed swimming complexes. The warning is of  fines for those who jump the security barriers. The threats are made after some persons have in the past dived in the swimming pool of the Lido and insulted the members of staff of the complex." Strange thing, but I think I would rather meet these people on the streets than those 16 gun weilding drug barons on the loose.

We seem to be getting a good run of responses to the daily blogs now, including some welcome first timers. Many thanks.

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com - thank you!

TODAY'S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi ... A great shot of the 'Independence of the Seas', the biggest cruise ship ever, in Funchal.

Thanks so much for all the photos sent in, I had about 12 to choose from, but I chose this one because it gave the best perspective of the sheer enormity of the beast. I may be able to put some of the others on later.

Source : Diário de Notícias 9/5/2008

The Service of the natural park of Madeira (SPNM) is to undertake a study of the relationship between Madeira's fishermen and wild sea lions. With the aim of conservation and increasing the populations of these fine creatures (no, not the fishermen). The study has a particular interest in the rare and endangered species 'Monachus monachus', of which there is a colony of around 30 living around the Ilhas Desertas (the Deserted Islands off the south east Madeira coast).  

Lemons produced on Madeira in 2007 reached impressive levels, with the lemon groves of Ilha in Santana producing 800 tons on just 87 hestares last year. This fact will be celebrated at the 7th Regional Exhibition of the Lemon, which runs from yesterday until Sunday. I think we have festivals and exhibitions for every type of fruit and crop grown on Madeira ... some like the chestnut and cherry festivals are big events, whilst I would guess that the Pimpenela and Lemon events are somewhat more low key. If anyone is planning to go, please let me know what it was like. The lemon for me is a particularly important produce for Madeira ... without it where would we get our fix of 'local lemon' poncha?  

The Diario reminds us of the new mainland ferry service between Madeira and Portimão (near Faro) starting next month, with the first ferry departure from  Funchal on Saturday the 14th, 10.30 am. The article covers the subject of security for the new route, with a particular mention for drug smuggling. It seems unclear about who is taking responsibility and what arrangements have been made. The article asks the same questions for the journey between Madeira and Las Palmas (Canary Islands). I don't know how this will work, because with the new ferry to Portimão and return you are not crossing any national borders, just like the ferry to Porto Santo really where there is no visible security or smuggling controls. But on the leg between between the Canary Islands (Spanish) and Madeira is there customs and immigration controls involved?

The Las Palmas (Canaries) ferry to Madeira will cost €50 (I assume that's one way) or €90 if you want a 'stateroom'. The ship will leave Tenerife at 4pm on Fridays, stop at Gran Canaria, and set off for Madeira at 7.30pm. It will arrive at Funchal at 8.30am on Saturday morning and then leave for Portimão 2 hours later. The website link for the full schedule is already in the travel section on madeira4u, and should give you the complete schedules and price. (a few translation problems with this article means that would be a wise move).

I am getting quite accustomed to sending birthday and other cards to friends and relatives using 'e-cards'. It's much easier and faster (oh, and it costs nothing if you use the cheapskate range of cards), and sometimes I also get them sent to me. One of the other advantages is that you can set all the cards for the year up in one go, and you even get notified when the person has read them, which is dead handy in case that person then rings you to say thanks, as otherwise you might have no memory that it was their birthday. What's this got to do with Madeira you ask?

Well the thing is I get a lot of emails addressed to blog@madeira4u.com (several a week) telling me I have been sent a card, and to click on a link to retrieve it. I never know whether it's a hoax or not and for fear of downloading a virus I never actually look at them, just in case. So if there is any genuine 'mail' coming to me in this way, then I apologise for not reading them or responding.

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com - thank you!

TODAY'S PHOTO : Thanks to Alan ... the rock pool swimming area at Porto Moniz

Source : Diário de Notícias 8/5/2008

Today sees the introduction of new machines to make our lives easier, having violated traffic rules. In a test project of 20 machines, next time you get caught speeding, you can pay your fine on the spot through GPRS technology. These machines have been in use in continental Portugal since 2003, but thing always take a little longer to arrive on Madeira. I think you will also be able to pay through the ATMS (Multibancos) and internet banking. Attempts to bribe Police officers into not giving a fine should, as usual, be in the form of large unmarked bills, slipped between one's driving documents.

The Police are also due to be issued with portable computer terminals from 1st July. This will contain and have access to databases to assist with crime prevention and detection, and will operate in 'real time'. The new system is called VISIO.

10% of the Madeiran population has some sort of asthma problems. In fact it has been reported before, that the air and environment on Madeira is not especially helpful for asthma sufferers of any origin.

The new Madeira airline company FlyMI, currently being set up, hopes to have it's first flights airbourne in January 2008.

If you are into dance and ballet, the event organised for 18th May in Caniçal might be just up your street. 150 ballet dancers from 8 organisations will congregate for the 'Festival live dancing' (literal translation). Scheduled for a 6pm start at the Pavilhão Gimnodesportivo of Caniçal. The festival will demonstrate the many variations of dancing, popularised over the years, and in the main those 'used' on Madeira.

That's about it for today, aside from a few drug stories, and lots of political hot air as usual.

After 2.74 days of sunshine, I am back in the rain and 'cool' weather as I type this,  so I hope you lucky people on Madeira are feeling sorry for me. If anyone gets a picture of that gynormous cruise ship in town today, I would appreciate a copy to put on tomorrows blog ... thanks! 

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com - thank you!

TODAY'S PHOTO : Thanks to Wil ... a crab like creature photographed recently off the Madeira coast

Source : Diário de Notícias 7/5/2008

Friday sees the maiden arrival in Funchal of the biggest ever cruise ship on the high seas, and the first one of a new 'Genesis Class(?). Known as the 'Royal Caribbean' and launched on 30th April, it weighs 160,000 tonnes, is 339 metres long, 71 metres high, 56 metres wide, and cost €700 million to build. It has the capacity for nearly 4,400 passengers, and normally operates with nearly 1,400 crew members. It lists amongst its current passengers Lauren Bacall, Whoopi Goldberg, Steffi Graf, and Queen Sonia of Norway (I think).

A international covention of real estate agents is to hold its annual conference on Madeira between the 9th and 12th of this month, bringing 1,500 members of this dubious breed to our shores (see how restrained I can be!).

Source : Diário de Notícias 6/5/2008 - leftovers

Mothers Day was last Sunday, and the PSD/PS (main political parties) decided to give out it's own flowers to women (mothers?) in several towns. An act described by the Diario as "leaving perfume on the eve of elections".

The police had a busy weekend on the roads, with 13 drivers detained, including 11 for drink driving. Aside from Funchal (5), most of the drivers caught were from Ponta do Sol and Santa Cruz, and whilst I can't speak for the latter 'do Sol' seems to have the most stringent checks on the west side of Madeira. During the previous week on Madeira there were 10 accidents with 5 injuries, 67 vehicle breakdowns, and 18 'animal removals' occuring on or around the Via Rapidas.

Madeira's only official beer brewers (ECM) are best known locally and by visitors for the beer 'Coral'. They have just announced the launch of a new technically advanced product known as 'bottled water'. Originating in the serras (mountain range) between Pico do Areeiro and Chao da Lagoa, ECM have managed to tap into this marvellous resource to produce their new 'Atlantida' product.

Isn't that pretty much the same water we get through our taps at the moment, with a monthly water bill of just a few Euros? OK, who can blame them for 'tapping' into a lucrative market, where tourists are told not to drink the local water, and in certain less than honest establishments have been known to have been charged €6 for a bottle? ... but doesn't that mean that those same tourists are now going to be paying €6 for exactly the same water as comes through our taps?

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I mentioned a few days ago that I had aquired Easyjet tickets for my latest journey, and I have to say I went very smoothly and everything happened as it should have done. The only odd thing was the boarding procedure, which worked as intended, but must have at one time appeared somewhat peculiar to the Madeiran staff at the airport as well as the passengers. The rule is that the first 40(?) passengers to 'check in' get to board first. I was at the airport very early, so managed to check in with the first 10 travellers, and was relishing my privileged position in a boarding system which doesn't pre-allocate passenger seating. I stood close to the boarding gate and waited, just in case I had been misinformed, previsualising my front row window seat, free extra legroom, view over Madeira as we flew out, and of course first stab at the overhead baggage locker.

It didn't quite happen! The Easyjet representative first of all called for 'Speedy Boarding Passengers' to form one queue (these people had apparently paid £10/€12 for the privilege of boarding before anyone else). Then they they called for 'special assistance' flyers to form the second queue. This consisted of people with walking sticks and/or babies. They were to be allowed through next. Then they called everyone with an 'A' written on their tickets, that included me, and they did check that I had the required 'A'. The rest of the passengers were then ordered to form queue 'B', which also happened without problems.

So we now had four queues ... 'Speedy boarders' (people with more money than sense), 'Special assistence' (people who knew beforehand to take a walking stick or borrow someones kid), 'A's (people like me who were by now confused and bemused, and superior people than the 'B's), and 'B's (latecomers and low status passengers who had no right to decent seats).

OK I was getting the hang of it now, so the 'Speedy boarders' were called though first, and I presume that was always the case whether or not you had a wheelchair or were clinically dead (unfortunately there was no one in this  state able to prove my point). It may be that sometimes there is a fifth queue with overall priority, for people with walking sticks and/or kids who also pay the extra £10/€12. They then called the 'Special Assistance' group who went through the boarding gate next.

Of course by now I had seen 25+ people go through the gate in front of me, and my dream seat had faded away. Add to that the 6 people who had managed  to sneak in front of my number one place in queue 'A', while I was too busy inspecting the disabilities of the 'special assistance' group ... looking for white parents with coloured babies, walking sticks with price labels still attached, or at the very least some odd twitches or hospital slippers.

After what seemed an eternity, but was in fact only a few seconds, queue 'A' were called forward to the boarding gate. You can imagine my surprise to find outside a bus with 25+ passengers already on board. Looking out to our plane to work out which side we would be leaving our bus, I managed to secure a standing place near to the bus exit door, and it was just a question then of pushing and tripping up a few people in order to get to my dream seat on the airplane.

Owing to overwhelming feelings of generosity and chivalry (and possibly a little guilt), I eventually ended up with a window seat in row 3, but with plenty of locker space. I was happy with that, but now I know the ropes for the future I am confident that I can get that extra leg room, without paying the idiots fee.

Did you know that the canned drinks machine in the downstairs departure lounge sells cans of Coke etc. for €1 (which isn't cheap), but you cannot take it through security. If you buy the same can from a vending machine after the security checks it costs €1.50. If you buy the equivalent volume of Coke on board the plane, it's around €1 more. It's nice to hear that someone is making a good profit out of terrorism!

The only other thing warranting mention, is the price list magazine for onboard purchases (drinks, food, perfumes, and stupid model EJ planes etc.). We travelled on the last day of the month, so we had the old magazine which presumably would have been replaced the next day. I was interested to see whether due to the strong Euro and the weak British Pound had actually made anything value for money, I looked at a selection of prices and the conversion rates, and decided that some 'price manipulation' had taken place. Some prices that had not changed, and were still using €1.50=£1. Other seemed to have been hiked to suit the new exchange rates, for example the £ price had been increased to suit the old € level. Anyway, we made the 3 hour+ journey without purchasing anything, so all in all we had a pretty good deal.

PS: Please note the truth has been stretched for entertainment purposes.

(note for Diary ... next Easyjet flight - buy walking stick and shuffling slippers : back up plan - take tippex and blue biro).

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can rely direct using the form at the bottom of each blog page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com - thank you!