To the southern reaches of the Republic to have a look at how the 2010 festivities are coming along. I haven’t been here for a year and things are palpably different.

For starters, Cape Town now has a new skyline. Before now, the three Tampax Towers – the frontrunners of a National Party idiocy to drag Cape Town into the Space Age – clung fiercely to the apparent honour of being visible from far out to sea or the Moon or whatever. That privilege now belongs to the hulking stadium in Green Point which squats at the base of Signal Hill like a cave troll.

It looked quite pretty at sunset last night, but in this morning’s white glare, it is a beast of a building. I have a fine view of it from a balcony in the Protea Hotel in Century City, Cape Town’s very own mini-Dubai.

Century City is odd, but like Dubai, it does not pretend to be anything other than what it is – a man-made complex of mall, entertainment, hotel and office spaces. People who like Dubai will probably love it. The hotel’s great and anyone who takes a room on the west or south side side will have the last laugh: the view of the city and the mountain is outstanding.

For now, anyway. The only possible sand in the ointment is what might happen to the fine wide space that is Ysterplaat Air Force Base, possibly the only large open ground left in Cape Town itself. Not a lot of air traffic last night, and if Parliament does move to Tshwane, that will mean even fewer ministers using the air force’s VIP aircraft to shuttle them to the base.

Open ground, in an expensive city. One’s gears start grinding.

Related posts:

1. Emirates adds second daily flight to Cape Town
2. No more, the sound of fighter jets over Cape Town
3. Cape Town’s swish new airport terminal
4. Libya: The Romans once had their Cape Town too
5. Army takes to Cape Town’s streets. Blocks traffic.