There is a sure way to tell who is new to Cape Town:
at exactly 12pm every day a huge gun on top of Signal Hill is fired and all the tourists jump out of their skin! This has been happening since 1806 every day without fail (except on Friday, January 7th 2005, the only recorded failure of the gun) as a method for sailors to ensure their timepiece's work, and they still use the same original guns. The sound ricochets around the City Bowl before being lost out in the bay, and every day at work it reminds me I'm running late! Its just one of those things that seems insignificant, but Cape Town would not be the same without it!
Interesting side-fact, the boats who were out in the harbour used to use telescopes to see the smoke rather than listen for the bang, because light travelled faster than sound. Cool.
Second interesting side-fact: once, the tamper used to load the gun was accidentally left in the gun, when it was fired, it flew into the city and killed a horse...
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