The Big Bang, 5 minutes early

Towers before they were demolished

The Athlone Power Station better known to Capetonians as the salt and peppers shakers due to its appearance were demolished earlier today. The scheduled time for the implosion was 12pm however Mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato decided that a few minutes earlier would do the trick. This however has caused a mini uproar as a number of Capetonians were waiting to do the official countdown and before they knew it the well known landmark had disappeared before their eyes and before they had they opportunity to get clicking on their cameras. We could always give Dan Plato credit for being early, maybe his watch is set 5 minutes earlier however I think in this case being early was not acceptable.

The Athlone Power Station was commissioned in 1962 and its main priority was to generate power in times of high demand or when power failures were taking place nationally. This power station was the last coal fired station in Cape Town as the others which were located in the city center and Salt River had been demolished in the 1980's and 1990's.

Towers are demolished ahead of scheduled time resulting in disappointed onlookers

The infamous salt and pepper shakers became a landmark on the N2, ensuring that toursists were well aware of the fact that they were travelling on the N2 and not the N1 if they saw the two towers. The two towers have been decommissioned for several years however in February this year the reinforcing bands on one of the towers collapsed. These bands were put in place in 1993 to extend the lifespan of the towers however after the band collapsed, this caused major concern as there was a possibility that the tower could collapse at anytime thus a decision was made to demolish the landmark. I guess we'll need to find another landmark to ensure that our toursists do not get lost along the way or confuse the N1 with the N2, any suggestions.

Youtube video below showing the Towers being demolished