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NIGHTLIFE

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Beautiful Young Things

The best Gauteng party-pictures blog…

Sunday Times social reporter Gabisile Ndebele and photographer Eddie Mtsweni show you where the party was at with snaps of Jozi's beautiful young people and commentary too.

Makeover for Golden Mile
   July 29 2009 at 06:09AM - By Colleen Dardagan

Demolition of the Durban beachfront's XL Restaurant is the next step in a R100-million plan to give beach visitors safer access to the ocean ahead of the Fifa World Cup. The head of strategic projects and 2010 planning at the eThekwini Municipality, Julie-May Ellingson, said the decision to expropriate the restaurant taken at Tuesday's municipal Exco meeting was not the "first prize". "Our intention wasn't to expropriate. We would rather have had early termination of the lease. But the asking price is out of the market value and we couldn't afford to agree to that amount. 'We are getting rid of the clutter'  "We are still hoping to reach an agreement, but in the meantime we are forging ahead - we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

Ellingson said the restaurant site was part of a multimillion-rand plan to revamp the beachfront to improve Durban's beach experience and prepare for the Fifa 2010 Fan Park set for New Beach. "Demolishing the restaurant is essentially part of the redevelopment around that beach node to create a scenic interface between the upper promenade and the lower promenade - unfortunately the restaurant falls smack in the middle of that.

"At the moment there is a huge level difference between the promenades which we want to re-align. Our original plan wasn't approved by the environmental impact authority, so we've had to use our compromised plan which takes up a portion of that building." Ellingson said the city's vision was to link the harbour mouth with Blue Lagoon via a R75-million promenade. 'The remaining pools will be reconfigured' "We have 8km of amazing shoreline and we must use it to its full potential. For that we need a decent promenade with activity nodes about every 300m all the way along."

In line with the plan the city has already demolished the Snake Park and Ocean Conference Centre, and plans are afoot to refurbish the Rachel Finlayson Pool and the historical South Beach change rooms.  "We are getting rid of the clutter. We want people to be able to see at least 150m in front of them - it's common sense from a safety and environmental design perspective. Removing the XL and the adjoining ablution blocks will allow for that. "Moving from the south, the old Marine Lifesavers' building will make way for a new restaurant and residential area with parking. "Historically we've had problems at the South Beach pool. It's very dangerous. So we are closing that off and the smaller pool at the back will be covered over, grassed, and used for storage for the local traders.

"The remaining pools will be reconfigured to improve surveillance. We are also building a new playground with swings at the pool. "There will be a restaurant node and offices for events which will integrate seamlessly with New Beach. Also, new grassed terraces will be developed along that area." Ellingson said the demolished Ocean Conference Centre had made way for new restaurants, a retail area and coffee shop. Additional lighting and level surfaces are on the cards for the Bay of Plenty lawn area, and the Amphitheatre will be opened up to the beach. "The bathrooms under the big bank at the Amphitheatre will be demolished. There will be new ablution blocks at the skate park with a deck and skate shop which will have direct interface with another restaurant node."

Ellingson said hotel linkages to the beach would be improved. "Mini-town will be reconfigured. The ugly-looking barbed wire fence along that area will be taken away and the promenade widened all the way to Suncoast Casino. After the casino we'll have a link directly to the stadium."  "Ultimately," said Ellingson, "by removing the divisions between the beaches all long the beachfront we are opening up a direct link from New Beach all the way to the stadium."

o This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on July 29, 2009

HOLLYWOOD

ANGIE BELIEVES IN FREE LOVE
December 23, 2009

Angelina Jolie doesn't believe fidelity is essential in a relationship.

The Hollywood actress - who raises six children with her long-term partner Brad Pitt - believes open romances can work just as well as monogamous relationships, if both partners agree to it.

She told Das Neue magazine: "I doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship. It's worse to leave your partner and talk badly about him afterwards.

"Neither Brad nor I have ever claimed that living together means to be chained together. We make sure that we never restrict each other."   

The 34-year-old screen beauty - who famously met and fell in love with Brad on the set of Mr. And Mrs. Smith in 2005, while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston - also revealed the pair have a fiery relationship.

She said: "The sparks fly at home if the nice Brad fails to see that he's wrong and reacts in a defiant way. Then I can get so angry that I tear his shirt."  

GAMES

Card game scam nets up to R3m
   August 11 2009 at 11:46AM

Five people, including two Carnival City card dealers, will appear in court this week in connection with a fraudulent card playing scheme which involved a camera in a cigarette box, a casino official said.

Carnival City spokeswoman Tamra Veley confirmed that the arrests took place last week.

The five men are due to appear in the Brakpan District Court tomorrow. It seems that three Chinese nationals installed a hidden camera in a cigarette box to take pictures of cards being dealt while playing a game called Punto Bunco.

The card dealers allegedly dealt the cards slow enough for the camera to take pictures.This was done for three nights in a row last month. Apparently, the pictures were then sent to computers in a hotel room, from where one of the syndicate members would watch and then send his mates the card information via SMS.

Up to R3-million could have been stolen in the scam. - Sapa

 
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