Rickman’s Secrets to Long Life

Life at 90 depends very much on the character of the individual, says Rick Rickman, as he prepares for the big nine-o.

From an all-time favourite leisurely sport of golf, Mr Rickman has fallen back on reading, writing, occasional painting and drinking, to pass his spare time away.

The change came about when his knee gave up.

“Golf used to be my passion,” the former secretary for Fiji Golf Association said.

Mr Rickman’s occasional dabble with acrylic painting is not often as the eye interprets.

“I paint what I see, probably not what you see in the mirror,” he said.

“It depends on my mood.”

The former chairman for Fiji Airports attended the London School of Printing and Fine Arts before joining the Royal Air Force.

“When I left school at 15, I went to the London School of Printing and Fine Art for three years; it’s now a university with some fancy name,” he said.

FOOD SAFETY 

A quirky fact that he credits his longevity to, involves food and diet, or protein and wine, as he says.

He encourages the use of homemade concoction of turmeric, ginger and lemon, for good health.

“Turmeric is magical,” Mr Rickman said.

“I have been using turmeric, ginger and soursop leaves for 22 years to help keep cancer in check,” Mr Rickman said.

He warns against aluminium toxicity in water, with safeguards like the three water pump filters he uses at home.

“I have a triple filtered water system which I occasionally add Irish Whisky or Scotch to, to be sure,” he said.

Mr Rickman is particularly cultured when it comes to the quality of meat he chooses.

“I usually save up and buy a whole sirloin; get my steak either from Tavua, or a small shop in Namaka, which I vacuum pack for three weeks, to age it tender,” he said.

“If you don’t have a vacuum packer, put it in a ziplock bag, with some ripe pawpaw, and leave it in the fridge, for a week.

“I remain a carnivorous clown.

“We have pork from Simon Cole of Vuda Pork in the freezer chest and beef from Yaqara.”

VAX REAPER 

Not necessarily an anti-vaxxer, Mr Rickman strongly recommends measures to flush out the adverse effects of what science is now apologising for, the COVID vaccination.

Fiji’s political posterity hinges on the vax reaper, he said.

“I am a shade more than eccentric,” Mr Rickman said.

“I have this theory, that 25-30 per cent of those that had the COVID vaccination will have myocarditis, or blood clots, resulting in heart attacks or other, within five years of taking the shots, which will apply equally to politicians.

“That number increases if they had Pfizer or Moderna boosters.

“Sadly, I have already lost two close friends to what they are calling turbo cancer.

“Those two friends were decades younger than I.

“The Grim Reaper has become the Vax Reaper.”

Turbo cancer is an anti-vaccination conspiracy theory alleging that people vaccinated against COVID-19 suffer from a high incidence of fast-developing cancers.

The human body is the perfect machine which builds its own antibodies against future variants of COVID, Mr Rickman points out.

“All viruses adapt or change progressively; our bodies can counter them if we maintain a reasonable level of healthy diet,” he said.

“We feed the perfect machine.”

Mr Rickman had COVID in 2021 and said the effects lasted three days.

“I’ve never had the experimental vaccines,” he said.

“I got COVID before the vaccine arrived.

“I still would not have accepted an experimental vaccine.

“I am not anti-vax, I had more than my fair share in the Royal Air Force.”

But a movement of anti-vaxxers is gaining global momentum.

“I have a friend who is a chemist in New Zealand who was born in Fiji,” Mr Rickman said.

“She is anti-vax and probably has vax-cleansing suggestions.”

On the go at his age, Mr Rickman still washes and hangs the laundry.

When he turns 90 in November, he hopes to see the national superannuation organisation, Fiji National Provident Fund, taken to the High Court for “the illegal action they took against pensioners in 2012”.

Mr Rickman has made no bones about the bad hand many were forced to suffer under the previous government, particularly on the issue of national superannuation.

“I want to live long enough to see the High Court give recompense to pensioners which the current Finance minister Biman Prasad and the Sitiveni Rabuka-government chose to ignore,” Mr Rickman said.

The World Health Organisation said those who should consult with a doctor before vaccination include people with a compromised immune system, older people with severe frailty, people with a history of severe allergic reaction to vaccines, people living with HIV, and those who were pregnant or breastfeeding.

WHERE IN FIJI WOULD YOU TAKE FRIENDS TO?

Nadarivatu.

I have good memories of the place.

As a destination, the environment is unspoiled, and deserves far better access roads.

One can grow anything up there.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BACKYARD SPOT? 

Vuda Marina.

It has a great ambience, charming staff, good food at reasonable prices, including the $10 special lunches Monday to Friday.

I regularly go to Vuda Marina on Wednesdays for the $10 special chicken and chips, and always take my own bottle of vinegar.

Vinegar, particularly apple cider vinegar, destroys kidney stones.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SPOT FOR COFFEE OR PIE?

I drink cocoa seasoned with chilli and sweetened with honey.

The pie and the cocoa are always at home because that is where it is first class.

I don’t drink coffee or tea, cocoa without milk is my drink; honey and chilli have healing properties; look how popular Cayenne pepper has become.

GIVEN YOUR EXTENSIVE TRAVELS, IS THERE A PLACE IN FIJI THAT IS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST? 

That is difficult because when I was a member of the Hotel Licensing Board, I covered many, including Laucala Island.

Feedback: frederica.elbourne@fijisun.com.fj