I Ate At McDonald's

Putrid bile, vile heartburn shit.
Oily, greasy tasteless crap.
Insipid, limp-wristed rain-forest destroying cow-pat.
Artery clogging, cholesterol saturated cud.
Cloying, soul destroying, denatured cardboard indigestion.
Silicon coated, Teflon tainted American plastic.
Have a nice day.
Vomit warmed up, spewing forth, choking unable to breathe.
Sandblasted, sanitised French Fries from hell.
Dizzy spells, packaged smell, feel unwell, puke.
Why the fuck did I go back to Mc Donald's?



I wrote this piece at the height of a bitterly cold winter in the Czech Republic. My company did not have company (or pool) cars back then, and I could not afford one, so I had caught a lift (in a Škoda 120) to Brno where I spent the day working at a campus recruiting event. I had only been in the Czech Republic for two months at that stage and the only way for me to get back to Prague was to brave the deep snow in a frozen bus from Brno to Prague. I was a 210km trip back home, it was the worst winter in 75 years, I was feeling pretty miserable and was hungry.

I believe the coach dropped me at the bus terminal at Praha hlavní nádraží (the main railway station) and from there I made my way down Václavské náměstí (Wenceslas Square) where I was going to catch a tram back to my apartment in Prague 7, Holešovice. At the time McDonald's did not have any restaurants in South Africa (where I had relocated from) and I had only tasted my first Big Mac about a month earlier...and it had been a far from pleasant experience. Nevertheless, it was dark, the snow was deep, I was frozen and there was probably very little to eat in my apartment, so I took the convenient way out, and returned to McDonald's for my second attempt at a Big Mac. On the tram home, I scrawled my less than complimentary assessment of the meal on the back of a graduate interview form.

Penned at breakneck speed on December 8, 1995 (in the freezing cold) on Tram 14 to Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square), Prague, Czech Republic.

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

Rolling for PW

On Thursday, August 28, 1980 (while nursing a blend of conjunctivitis and flu) I had a major motor accident. At the time I was a conscript serving with the 7th SA Infantry Battalion, had returned from Ondangwa in the South West African "Operational Area" on June 28, and was posted to 7 SAI's base camp in Phalaborwa before returning to "The Border". A very pleasant chap by the name of Johann Grove had just returned to Namibia, and asked me whether I would drive his car home to Johannesburg for him. I agreed and was joined by Ingo Eggers and Jan Viljoen who shared the fuel costs with me. On that fateful Thursday we left Phalaborwa, heading for Pretoria, and my diary picks up the story on the R101:

Pass. On a detour road between Nylstroom and Warmbaths I got blinded by a truck's headlights, misjudged a right-hand corner, drifed, corrected, drifted across the road, hit an irrigation ditch and rolled the Mazda 323, 1300cc four times. Landed on the roof. Three of us OK. Car a total write-off. Lucky to be alive. Hiked home (accident at 06:10 pm).



Incredibly, we hitchhiked back to Pretoria in full military "step out" uniform, covered from head to toe in petrol, squashed banannas, mashed avocado pears, lager beer and red Transvaal dust. My neck has never been the same since, and I apologise to Ingo and Jan if they have had any long term side effects. Sadly for me, this was not to be my last accident for the weekend. Two days later, on the night of Saturday, August 30, 1980 I was a passenger in another rolling car on the corner of Crown Avenue and Lawley Street in Waterkloof, Pretoria. But that's another story...



I took these photographs on Monday, September 1, 1980 at the Warmbad Scrap Yard at 1 Industria Road in Warmbaths on my way back to base after an insane weekend. FYI, here's the route of the R101 between Nylstroom and Warmbaths.

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

The Back of the Moon

The Back of the Moon was one of the best Motocross tracks in South Africa back in the late-70's and early-80's. It was situated in Baviaanspoort, to the north of Pretoria and to the south of the Roodeplaat Dam. Although racing was way beyond my budget, I spent many fine weekends out there with friends who had the wherewithal.



Apparently I misspent a little bit of my youth there on Saturday, October 13, 1979, just over three months into my two years of compulsory military conscription. My diary for the day reads as follows:

Kohler's in morning. Gary there. To his place. Loaded bikes - 2 x RM 250 and 1 x KTM 250. To "Back of the Moon" MX track. Races: Gary won 1st race and came 2nd in 2nd race. Peter wiped out. Anton 3rd overall. Twelve ales!! Lisa George there. To Peter's. Home. To Fischers ± 20 people there - all to Boogies. Substance abuse. Beer, brandy, Southern Comfort, tequila and rum!! To Monastery Disco at 10:00pm. Everyone there. Took Nikki Ashton home. Zeller, Barker, two others and I to Johannesburg at 11:30pm. To Carlton Centre and Hillbrow. Zeller, Barker and I passed out in cab. To Fischers. Took Zeller and Barker home. Bed at 03:30am.

Those were the days! Phew - I'm exhaused just reading that ;-)

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

15 Albums

On September 3, 2010 my old connection from Pretoria, Helgard de Barros posted a challenge on his Facebook page:

15 ALBUMS

THE RULES: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. Copy and post to your profile. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my friends choose*. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note).

Phew - tough one! The 15 albums that have defined me. Hmmm....

So I created a list in under ten minutes, off the top of my head. A few hours later, I created another. Tonight two more! For future reference, here they are:

1. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Hole
2. Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll
3. David Bowie - Space Oddity
4. The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
5. Nirvana - Nevermind
6. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Exodus
7. The Asylum Kids - Fight it With Your Mind
8. Bernoldus Niemand - Wie Is Bernoldus Niemand
9. Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles
10. Gary Numan & the Tubeway Army - Replicas
11. Nina Hagen - Nina Hagen Band
12. Dead Kennedys - Frankenchrist
13. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
14. The Clash - Sandinista
15. The Doors - The Doors

1. Rodriguez - Cold Fact
2. Golden Earring - Moontan
3. Uriah Heep - Magician's Birthday
4. The The - Infected
5. Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat
6. The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues
7. Frank Zappa - Live in New York
8. Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
9. Pretenders - Pretenders
10. Blondie - Parallel Lines
11. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
12. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
13. Patti Smith Group - Easter
14. Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame
15. System of a Down - Mezmerize

1. Peter Tosh - Equal Rights
2. Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
3. The Beat - I Just Can't Stop It
3. Elvis Costello - Armed Forces
4. Spliff - 85555
5. Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Alles Ist Gut
6. Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat
7. T-Rex - Electric Warrior
8. The Selecter - Too Much Pressure
9. Violent Femmes - 3
10. Public Image Ltd - The Flowers of Romance
11. Koos Kombuis - Ver van die Ou Kalahari
12. Gereformeerde Blues Band - Eet Kreef
13. David Bowie - Lodger
14. The Clash - Combat Rock
15. L7 - Bricks Are Heavy

1. Kraftwerk - Die Mensch-Maschine
2. Joe Jackson - Jumpin' Jive
3. Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti
4. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
5. Die Antwoord - $O$
6. Linton Kwesi Johnson - Forces of Victory
7. The Doors - An American Prayer
8. Tribe After Tribe - Power
9. Einstürzende Neubauten - Haus der Lüge
10. The Specials - Specials
11. The Jam - All Mod Cons
12. Echo & the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
13. Queen - Queen II
14. Alice Cooper - Love It to Death
15. Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

1. Metallica - Metallica (The Black Album)
2. Kiss - Alive
3. Ian Dury & the Blockheads - New Boots & Panties
4. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
5. Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (no. 3, 1980)
6. David Bowie - Pin Ups
7. The Doors - LA Woman
8. Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Nail
9. Rammstein - Sehnsucht
10. Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Root Hog Or Die
11. AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
12. Soundtrack - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
13. Soundtrack - Jesus Christ Superstar (Original London Cast)
14. Soundtrack - That Summer!
15. Status Quo - Dog of Two Head

2014-11-16 UPDATE
My wife just gave me her list of 15 :-)
I'd like to add Foo Fighters - Wasting Light to my list too...

1. Soundtrack - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
3. Pearl Jam - Ten
4. Nirvana - Nevermind
5. Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
6. Violent Femmes - 3
7. REM - Document
8. The Doors - LA Woman
9. Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat
10. Echo & the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
11. Metallica - Metallica (The Black Album)
12. Rammstein - Mutter
13. Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age Of Grotesque
14. Golden Earring - The Naked Truth
15. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©