About Rick
I’m Rick. I was born in the UK to Italian-English parents and came to Australia when I was eight years old.
I grew up in housing commission in the 1970s, and back then you learned pretty quickly that if you couldn’t stand up for yourself, you could become a target. I learned how to fight, and that eventually became a big part of my life.
Over the years I had plenty of fights on the street and in the ring. I also got myself into trouble with the law when I was younger. Looking back now, I can see that a lot of those experiences taught me lessons the hard way.
My life started to change in my late twenties when I got married and settled down. For a while, things became more stable. Then the marriage ended, and I went off the rails again. Later, I moved to Thailand, which became another major chapter in my life.
I’m now 65, and I’ve lived through plenty of highs, lows, mistakes, hard lessons and unexpected turns.
I’ve been through what people often call the school of hard knocks, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.
That’s why I want to share my story now.
This isn’t about pretending I always made the right choices. I didn’t. It’s about talking openly about what happened, what I learned, what I would do differently, and what younger people might be able to take from those experiences.
If even one young person hears one of my stories and makes a better decision because of it, then sharing my life will have been worthwhile.