Madeira is wonderfully lacking in Scrooges

My wife and I arrived in Madeira for a week’s peace and quiet, but the driver from the airport had other ideas and was soon telling us how difficult it was to own a taxi these days. Cars are much more expensive to buy than in Spain, for example, and there is a lot of red tape involved in running a cab. He was happy to be out of the Madeiran capital, Funchal, where the police were busy doing spot-checks. Sure enough, his pal soon called to complain that he’d just been fined for some minor breach of regulations. Then we were on to Portuguese politics. The Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, had recently resigned following corruption allegations. Parliament would be dissolved and a new election organised, or else the Socialist party would be asked if they wanted to appoint a new PM. Our driver shrugged, that most expressive of gestures, while I worked out whether I could use any of it in my next novel.

We were in a hotel near Funchal’s cathedral and soon learned the rhythm of the day.