Xmas Bonus … 3 blogs for the price of 1 … Drink Driving … Decorations … New Year

Source : Diário de Notícias 23/12/2007

Headline “When the Madeirans drinks, they drink …”.  The statement is made by the commander of the Division of Traffic of the Police, commissioner Adelino Pepper.  The reason is that until November of this year, 583 drivers were nicked with excess blood alcohol levels, a number that is very close to the total registered for the whole of 2006 (671), and very few of these were guilty of acheiving the lower level of 1.20 g/l.  In this past week, until Saturday morning, there were 28 drivers caught over the blood alcohol limit, and another seven caught driving without a driver’s license. 

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According to Friday’s newspaper, the sale of Xmax trees has hit new lows this year. This is partly due to the lowering of prices of artificial trees to between €15 and €50. If you follow local traditions. add to this the average expenditure on holly of between €10 and €15, your yule time log (upto €35), a pot of wheat (€2), a bucket full of moss, and flowers (between €10 and €15) and you have spent upto €117 to build a xmas nativty grotto in your home. Then you have to add the crib and all the figures on top of that. This apparently is still very popular on Madeira. I see here a buinesses opportunity for someone, as if they are prepared to accept artificial trees, why not an reusable artificial inflatable crib?  Also it could be a lot more hygenic, as god knows how many of those centipedy things live in that yule log, and old soggy moss does tend to pong a bit. 

According to one of our blog readers (EBM), one council was giving away free artificial Xmas trees last week. No free lunches in this life mate … probably has a concealed camera spying on you and your 12 kids!

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In yesterday’s Diário, there is a long report about the preparations for the new year firework display. Already underway in preparation, by Wednesday next week there are expected to be around 100 staff members and technicians on Madeira setting up 66,000 explosions using 17 tons of fireworks. For a display that only lasts 8 minutes, last years record breaking event will be a hard act to follow. I might blog some more information on this nearer the time, depending how many xmas greeting blogs responses I get over the next 3 days.

Christmas day there is an extra special blog treat planned … and if it doesn’t bring some extra cheer to your day, you can ask for your money back. DON’T MISS IT!

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