The £1million BBC World Cup Studio on roof Cape Town Hospital not nearly ready

                                                           Click images to see large
Former England captain Gary Lineker might have to take the stairs to present Match of the Day from the BBC's R11 million rooftop World Cup studio in Cape Town if contractors fail to sort out a major problem that has stalled the erection of a purpose-built lift.

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                Granger Bay Boulevard closed off . On the left see BBC studio with view to Table Mountain on the roof top of Somerset Hospital

It will have marvelous views on clear days but its often misty now

but I think I will be able to see my home on tv :)

BBC Sport's dedicated World Cup website – bbc.co.uk/worldcup – will provide a one-stop shop for the live World Cup , covering every kick of the tournament in South Africa


And...Sky Sports follows BBC to Cape Town with World Cup studio

                          You can see someone inside the BBC studio at work on late saturday afternoon

The Daily Mail :
The pundits' paradise: BBC lavished £1m on a World Cup studio (pity it's 1,000 miles away from the action)

Friday morning Bomb scare at the Cape Town Stadium on first day Fifa has full control of Cape Town Stadium

The Cape Town stadium was evacuated this morning after a bomb threat was called in. Read on here

I must say that the stadium looked dead today No life to be seen ....weird... after all the frenzied activity of these last months

Yesterday I was still able to drive along this road but today nobody is allowed close to the stadium without a special pass, its now totally sealed off and manned at the checkpoints

                      Granger Bay Boulevard Closed off You are not allowed to walk past either

A peek through the old stadium at the new World Cup Stadium which has now been sealed off

FIFA Local Organising Committee takes over the stadium to make final venue preparations for the eight matches which the Cape Town stadium will host.

FIFA's exclusive use period for the stadium starts on Friday 21 May, but LOC officials are already on site.

As a result of the intensive construction and preparation work, the stadium area has been sealed off to members of the public and the media, unless by prior arrangement with the LOC.

The stadium operators, Sail/Stadefrance, will assist FIFA in running the 68 000-seat stadium during this time.

Anyone who has driven past the stadium in the last few weeks will have noticed an entire village of white marquee tents. These will host FIFA's MATCH Hospitality venues, and work is already under way to equip these with kitchens and ablution facilities, furniture, decor, and everything that goes with hosting international delegations in five star style, up to the crockery and cutlery.

Food and beverage stalls are also being prepared inside and outside the stadium.

Work is also under way to build the broadcasting centre outside the stadium, the cableway camera platform, and the media tribune, which will accommodate 800 journalists at the top level of seating on the same side of the stadium as the players' tunnel. There will be 32 fixed camera positions in the stadium, and positions on the pitch for an additional 200 still and video cameras.

Martin Pollack

Cape Town Stadium at night as seen from Signal Hill

Here you can read about the things you are NOT allowed to bring into the Stadium :

Code of conduct

Never a dull moment Look at the Cape Town Stadium and Green point Urban park

                           

Halogen lights above the pitch, created this yellow light
it is to stimulate the growth of grass in shady areas of the pitch.

The yellow lights were switched on around midnight. They were still on in the morning and again this evening ..

Another loop of lights in the new Green Point Park was switched on today

Cape Town Stadium in the mist , and Green Point Urban Park lights on for the first time !

Click images to see large

I hope you may see Green Point and the Stadium this beautiful at sunset and by night !

                        When you are in Cape Town, do drive up Signal Hill just before sunset , its a sight you will never forget !

 Three Anchor Bay

See all the new lights along the boulevard, now you can linger a little longer after sunset ...

Click on image

I have writtn "irt" in pink , that is the small IRT staion Its not ready yet and the other "IRT Station"

I marked in pink as well, that is the large IRT Station as far as I know it is ready

Here  the same photo with the lights on

                                 

                     

New Urban Park Lights ! New Golf course opened today ! Its all happening in Green Point, Cape Town

We had a glorious sunny day after days of rain and fog

but the weather forecast for this week is good !

On Friday night they switched these green lights on

They are lighting up the path through the new Urban park

Sea fog makes the photo hazy Many days in autumn there is fog or mist hanging low over the

Green Point Common but click the photo its a big file You can see how much water there is lying on the grass from the rain of the last few days

You can see people playing golf on the green, it was the first day they played on the new Metropolitan

golf course There is a mixed competition tomorrow

                          

                                   

There were even more men on the roof than the days before !

Seeing  the rusty colour of the grass lit up by the setting sun gives an autumn feel you do not really get in Green Point

I was getting cold once the sun was down and no wonder when I drove home at 7 pm I saw that it was 13 degrees on top of Signal Hill !

6 PM

Men  queuing up to go down the shaft after a hard days work

                           

Port strike stalls plan 'B' for World Cup

This morning while I was having breakfast, the roof was teeming with men, then suddenly there was a deluge of water coming down, I had forgotten how it can rain in Cape Town .....the sky was dark and grey and the fog and solid wall of water  made it difficult to see but soon I realised that all the men had gone :)
They must have fled like rats down the holes ! LOL

                               The recent stormy weather created crashing waves here they hit the
                                          Sea Point sea wall splashing joggers and dog walkers

You can just see the top edge of the stadium on the left of the row of trees

This evening the drill ship "Discoverer" Luanda arrived in Cape Town it was towed toward the stadium and then towed back to this spot again Possibly waiting for the Transnet strike to be resolved

Strikes are causing mayhem in the country at the moment

This is what it says on the Port and Ships website :
PLEASE NOTE: SHIPPING MOVEMENTS RESTRICTED DUE TO STRIKE ACTION DELAY

Port strike stalls plan 'B' for World Cup

Electricity generators and special cables imported to be installed as power back-up supplies at South Africa's World Cup stadiums are afloat in containers on the Indian Ocean, unable to be offloaded from ships because of the Transnet strike.




This has placed final preparations for the event in jeopardy, as it is unknown when the strike will end, and Fifa requires back-up power to be installed at all World Cup stadiums.
Read on here



It is also concerning that any economic repercussions likely to be the consequences of a protracted strike may, in fact, be multiplied by the fact that, during the World Cup, there will be a significant increase in the demand on South Africa's transport sector. In particular, we understand that a strike from these unions during the World Cup might affect the supply of jet fuel to airports, thus placing a transportation mode key to World Cup visitors in serious risk.
read on ...here

Cape Town Stadium "Ring of fire" test the day before the handover to Fifa

All the lights were on but only for an hour or so

I heard  that the roof might be leaking a little

There were loads of people on the roof today

on their knees ....

I uploaded a Filia school performance in the CT stadium video on Youtube

A very weird looking stadium

Photos of Filia School’s Laduma concert: The last event before the stadium will be handed over (Tomorrow) to FIFA for the World Cup

On the left Guy Davies  the instigator of this event

Guy... Congratulations it was a pleasure to be there Really enjoyed every minute of it

Click the image to see it large then click it again to see it super large

I will upload some videos of this event tomorrow it really brings it alive

The performers are the learners at Filia School about  200 children, some of whom have quite severe disabilitiesThey were performing their concert - called "Laduma".

'Laduma!' is the South African equivalent to 'Goal!' and literally means 'it thunders' in Zulu.

Read more about this event here

The seats were wet We have had so much rain these last few days

I advice you to bring a small towel if it rains or you will have a wet cold bum :)

                         

See a video of a performance here

                          
    

                           

                                                                  Enjoyed his singing :)

                          

                           

It sounded great guys ! :)

Such a cuty :)

Click any image to see large

It has been pouring for days until this morning ...We had a dry day today

but no sun until late afternoon

The VIP Area

If it had been a blue sky you would have seen Table Mountain from here

I was not supposed to be here ofcourse :) Fifa has closed off all the area's which they already control

 but then if I don't go to all these forbidden places how the heck can I show you what is going on ? 

Part of the stadium has been handed over already, the rest will be handed over in a couple of days

When I came home I saw allot of men on top of the roof

Not sure what they are doing though

BTW it was not my day Lots went wrong I will not bore you with all of it but

one of my lenses was playing up and even blogger is being obstinate tonight !