On September 8, 1991, a countdown commenced on a pair of notorious Niddrie tower blocks that were to be sent crashing to the ground - or at least that was the plan.
But despite the button having been pushed, both Teviotbank House and Tweedsmuir House, which had only been completed 19 years earlier, were still standing.
Embarrassingly, the detonation had failed, and it would take demolition experts nine hours to topple the tower blocks bit-by-bit with a mechanical digger.
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The 50lbs of explosives went off without an issue, though left the block standing - with a spokeswoman for the controlled demolition adding: “The buildings are sitting on their four walls, it defies all the laws of gravity and physics.”
The day had got off to a shaky start with delays, while police were forced to persuade at least one resident to leave her home.
Seven-year-old Ryan Hamilton, from Cardenden, Fife, was selected through a newspaper competition to push the button that would bring down the buildings.
But Ryan, along with the demolition group, was left red-faced after the dust cleared just before midday and crowds were left puzzled.
The thousands who had gathered around to watch dissipated, going home without seeing what they had come to see.
Over 600 local residents who had been barred from their homes were anticipating a two hour wait, and ended up out of their houses for upwards of nine hours.
Some families were placed in hotels or B&B’s for the night, whilst developers forked out £2,600 on McDonalds cheeseburgers and fries to feed those who couldn’t get back in their kitchens.
More chaos came when a police meeting to inform residents of what had happened quickly came to an end, after cigarette smoke set off a sprinkler alarm.
Demolition boss Charles Moran said: “This is the first time this has happened in 11 years.”
By late evening, a digger was still hard at work boring holes into the walls in an attempt to finally bring the structures down. The small crowd who had waited cheered, as the 14-storey blocks crumbled.
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Lynn Clarke, who lived in Niddrie House Square, told the Daily Record at the time: “The whole thing has been a disaster.”
In agreement, neighbour Sheila Robinson added: “We were only supposed to be out for two hours. It’s as well I didn’t leave lunch on.”
If local campaigners had had their way, the Niddrie tower blocks would have been dust many years before. As early as 1987, only 15 years after their completion, a campaign sprang up to have them eradicated.
The buildings had earned a reputation for crime and anti-social behaviour, though it would be four more years before Teviotbank and Tweedsmuir Houses would be dust.
Niddrie is no stranger to the loss of buildings, with Niddrie Marischal House being razed to the ground in 1959. Making way for another housing estate, Niddrie Marischal had stood in the area since the 16th century.
The house was occupied until 1942, and was gutted by fire on Hogmanay of 1959 before the decision was made to demolish it.
The demolition of the Teviotbank and Tweedsmuir flats, meanwhile, would ultimately turn out to be a sign of things to come as Niddrie looked towards the millennium.
In the decade following the 1991 demolition of the tower blocks, Niddrie and Craigmillar would be almost entirely rebuilt, as the council sought to improve living standards in the area.
