Athlone Towers demolished on Sunday

Athlone Towers

The famous Athlone Towers in Cape Town will be demolished tomorrow at 12pm. The power station cooling towers were built in 1960 but generation of electricity was stopped in 2001. Subsequently the Towers have been determined to be unsafe. It has become a famous landmark to Capetonians over the years.



When I was a youngster we frequently visited family in Somerset-West and therefore always passed the Towers on the way, since it's located right next to the N2 highway. There is always a very bad smell in the area and it is mistakenly associated with the cooling towers. The smell is actually from the sewerage plant on the other side of the road. Nasal illusion!? 



Live broadcast



The demolition will be broadcast live on Sunday, 22 August, from 11h40 to 12h10 (GMT+2) on www.zoopy.com/live.

There will be a 300m exclusion zone around the Athlone Towers during the demolition. Part of the N2, Jan Smuts Drive and the adjacent Metrorail line will be closed.



Video: Athlone Towers, Going, Going...









UPDATE 22 August 2010: Videos of actual demolition

Athlone Cooling Towers Demolition from Phillip Gibb on Vimeo.

Google Street View available in South Africa

Google Street View has finally launched in South Africa, enabling internet users to view images of streets and surrounding buildings at street level. All faces and car number plates are blurred to protect your privacy. Considering that the FIFA World Cup tournament starts on Friday, this will undoubtedly assist tourists since they'll be able to view sights and stadiums before they arrive.



Of course, the first thing I did was to see if a Google Street View Car captured me in front of my home. Luckily not, but you can see my car in the driveway. I'm a fan of Google and use a lot of their online services; Google Maps with Street View is fantastic.

A view of Chapman's Peak Drive in Cape Town

Google Street View in South Africa is currently available in the major cities and a few other towns. I assume the rest of the country will be mapped during the rest of the year. All the major soccer stadiums are available in 3D with a 360 degree view inside.

3D model of Cape Town Stadium

Video: Street View on Google Maps







A lot of websites are dedicated to displaying funny images that have been captured on Google Street View. Here's a few interesting images.



The only downside to Google Maps and Street View is that it tends to use quite a lot of bandwidth so if you have a slow connection, good luck.



Related links

Google Maps with Street View - Google

Car guards receive expensive Audi R8 as gift

Two car guards working at the Table Mountain Cable Car station in Cape Town was left stunned when a businessman approached them and gave them an Audi R8 car, valued at R1,4 million, as a gift! They thought he was joking but he later returned giving them the keys and paperwork.



The businessman said he had a dream to come to the mountain and told them they should use the car to do good deeds. The car guards have cut a slit in the bonnet of the car (yikes!) for messages and donations to be dropped in.



Police officers have stopped the two car guards assuming that the car was possibly stolen but the businessman has proved that he did indeed give them the car as a gift.

Have you ever seen the movie, Pay It Forward? Well, this story reminded me of that movie. There's still some good-natured people out there. This could well have been a big publicity stunt but since the businessman has remained anonymous, it appears to have been an act of kindness after all.



I must admit, I initially did question the validity of the story and then realised we seem to live in a world where negativity reigns supreme. Perhaps its time to change that.



Related link

Man gives Audi R8 as a tip