Month: July 2012

According to the website of the European Information System for Forest Fire (European Forest Fire Information System – EFFIS), part of the European Commission, the fires in Madeira between 19 … Read more

What a difference a week makes! After the spectacular and devastating fires that started last Wednesday we now have much needed rain! I was in the Santa Lucia area this … Read more

The National Association of Professional Fire-fighters announced today that it will bring legal proceedings against the President of the regional government of Madeira after his statements about the "strange coincidence" … Read more

The Diario reports that the President of the Civil Protection Service in Madeira says that now, after a week of fighting fires on the island and although there are still … Read more

I had hoped to be more positive today – bad news has to end sometime and we all move on. For the sake of the island it is important that … Read more

Wednesday night’s blog posting and the very first photos of the fires has so far attracted over 11,000 visitors whilst yesterdays had 10,000 “hits”. I can’t take the credit for … Read more

As our photo from last night shows, and the headline on the Diario web site reads "Hell descended into Funchal," with dozens of people running, fleeing the flames in the … Read more

Ponto do Pargo

From the Diario:

Men and equipment of four brigades will spend this morning engaged in fighting on multiple fronts of fire that burn in several places … Read more

Photo: Orlando Drummond

The President of the Regional Government choked on food during a lunch held yesterday afternoon at a restaurant in Santana. The Diario reports that after the unexpected … Read more

I tend to put off exchanging GBP into Euros, thinking that I will probably get a better exchange rate “tomorrow”. This is not entirely down to being tight, as recent … Read more

I have always found it interesting that when you talk to Madeirans, particularly local shop-keepers, about the state of the local economy, they have a genuine resentment of the growth … Read more

All this recent talk of garden centres reminds me to remind readers about the truly hidden jewel in the world of orchids – right in the heart of Funchal.  Having … Read more

Pedro Proenca, who heads the Euro’2012 football final between Spain and Italy, yesterday stressed the desire to "prove on the field the quality of refereeing Portuguese."

"We represent the quality … Read more