TODAY'S PHOTO : Thanks to Eiryl ... 'Colourful Funchal'
Front Page News : source Diário de Notícias 3/10/2008
'Game against 14 was too much'. The main story was of Marítimo's defeat in Spain on Thursday night, referring to a game against 11 players, a referee and his 2 assistants.
Referred to as another 'mishap of liberalization (of the airways)' Madeira's residents who have brought tickets to travel between Madeira and Portugal are not getting their residents rebate on the fares paid on the new route operated by Easyjet. It seems that CTT (Post Office) that deals with the rebates is not getting the information it requires from the company to authorise the payments. 17,000 tickets have already been sold, and although bureaucracy is getting the blame, it seems that the customers contribution number needs to be printed on the ticket. I thought you couldn't get the rebate until after you had travelled, but as the flights don't start until 27th October, perhaps I got it wrong?
Anyone who heard a lot of gunshots on Wednesday afternoon, through to midnight, you can come out from under your beds now. It was a police quick response unit training exercise. It also involved sirens, and a lot of screaming and shouting, which could be heard in Funchal city centre. The commotion generated a lot of complaints.
Aside from that, just 2 political stories.
Other News :
Bit of trouble with translating this one, but a new law is threatening the future of the government owned daily newspaper 'Jornal da Madeira', due to it's shareholder structure. The Union of Journalists is trying to persuade the government to try and overcome the problem through restructuring, rather than take more drastic measures.
A thief broke into a commercial vehicle this week in Funchal, and must have thought Xmas had come early. He found 3 bags of money under the seat, amounting to €4,000 in coins. As the money was the proceeds of gambling through slot machines I will be shedding no tears, and can only say that 'what goes around comes around', if you get my drift.
In the first 6 months of this year 190 babies were born prematurely in Funchal central hospital, and every one survived.
Preparations are underway for next years carnival in Funchal, 21st to 24th of February. The key events are the grand carnival at 9pm on Saturday 21st, and the free for all 'Trapalhão' is at 4pm on Tuesday 24th. The theme for the event this time is astronomy, to coincide with the 'International Year of Astronomy'. It's 3 weeks later than this year, anyone know why? If you fancy a reminder of this years grand carnival, take a look here:
http://www.madeira4u.com/m4u_RI/resources_i_zz_carnival_2008_funchal.html
Yet another tourist mugging at the miradouro at Pico da Torre, Câmara de Lobos. This time it was a Spanish man, who was threatened with a knife and forced to hand over money (€140) and a camera. He is now in hospital suffering with shock (I think!). That place seems to be the worst location on Madeira for this sort of thing, but the police say they have increased vigilance there, and the mugging numbers have in fact declined.
The Regional Secretary for Human Resources said on Thursday that unemployment had fallen to 6.1%, emphasising that the rate nationally was 7.3%.
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The 'contact us' form and the excursion and car hire booking forms on the main website still has a fault. Nothing is coming through to me. If you have to send anything or have made a booking, or wish to, please email me. Very sorry for the inconvenience, I am trying to fix it asap.
www.madeira4u.com
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