“I didn’t realise until much later that
my mum had previously stopped him
from taking his life twice already,” he
recalls. “She stopped him from trying to
climb out of a window of a moving train,
and had taken a knife from him in the
kitchen. I wasn’t actually aware of how
much of a desperate situation
he had been in untilhe
finally killed himself.
A death in the
family is one thing,
but suicide is a
whole lot worse.
“I remember
when it
happened, you
havesortofa
feelingofsome
embarrassment.
I’vespokentoquitea
fewpeoplewhohavehad
suicidesintheirfamiliesandit
canbeaveryhardthingtoadmit.My
immediatereactiontoitwastocome
toAustralia...Ijustwantedtogetaway
fromitall.Travellingheretaughtmeto
fendformyself,really.That’swhyItook
offonmyown,toshowthatIcouldcope
withmysituation.”Simpleisbetter
ArrivinginAustralia,thecontrastwith
thecountryhe’dleftbehindcouldn’t
havebeenstarker.
“TheAussieswereleaner,more
bronzedandtheydid
somuchsport,”
remembersRick.
“There’ssuch
awonderful
optimismin
Australia,
whichiswhy
Iloveithere.
MostAustralians
lookonthebrighter
sideoflife.Isuppose
that’sexactly
whatSasislike–‘ ens o po ibilit her enormou
an ’ eflecte th peopl ’
she’s totally different to me. When I’m
melancholic and all gloomy, she’ll snap
me out of it by saying, ‘Oh, shut up!’
“The sense of possibility here is
enormous and it’s reflected in the
people. I feel that, as soon as I get off
the plane in Australia. I feel a good 10
years younger!”
At73, Rick exudes the vitality
ofa man half his age, so
clearly spending part of
his year in the Lucky
Country – where
sunshine and positivity
abounds – is paying
off. Now that he’s in hisseventh decade, the affable foodie has
boiled down his approach to life so that
it resembles his approach to cooking
and eating: simple is better.
“Just don’t expect too much and enjoy
what you have,” he says matter-of-factly.
“As you get older you sort of feel that
nothing really matters as much as you
think it did at the time. You’re like: ‘Why
did I bother?’ You learn not to sweat the
small stuff. You can enjoy the ride.”If you are worried about your or someone
else’s mental health, please see your GP.
For assistance, go to lifeline.org.au (13 11 14);
beyondblue.org.au or the Suicide Call Back
Service (1300 659 467).‘that's
whyi took
off on my
own,to show
thati could
copewith my
situation’rick’s simple
seafood supper
“I’m very keen on poaching fish- I think it’s an underused way
of cooking. Salmon, sea bass,
snapper... I even poached a bit
of mahi-mahi the other day.
And, for me, the best way of
serving it is with a simple dollop
of mayonnaise – and I mean
homemade mayonnaise. It’s
just a wonderful combination.
I’ll sometimes favour the
mayonnaise with a bit of
anise, and chopped fennel or
chives. You might question the
healthiness of mayonnaise, but
I’m not a believer in taking all
of the fun out of eating. Eat
sparingly and it’s all good!”PHOTOGRAPHY
GETTY IMAGES AND SUPPLIED
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