Ragged Clown

Mrs Clown sent me an ad for a show with naked dancers Continue reading →

Falling in love in French Polynesia. Continue reading →

Score one point for things you’ve done that most people haven’t. Continue reading →

Until it’s time to go. Continue reading →

Should we all learn to be plumbers? Continue reading →

My adventures ended on a high note. Continue reading →

What happened to the spirit of adventure that encouraged young men to go out into the world? Continue reading →

I met Mrs Clown at the airport. You’ll never guess what happened next. Continue reading →

My adventures ended on a high note. Continue reading →

The Ragged Clown finds his home at last. Continue reading →

Did people in the old days experience new paintings the way we experience new technology? Continue reading →

Not every philosopher was wrong about everything but most were wrong about most things. Continue reading →

This woman dreams of dying. Continue reading →

I was looking for a picture of a freshly inked tattoo. I knew it was there somewhere… Continue reading →

Sydney to Cairns. Cairns to Darwin. Continue reading →

I haven’t told my story in a while. I’ll start with some symptoms from the old days. Continue reading →

I’ve always thought of automats as lonely, melancholy places. Continue reading →

Chapter three of my memoirs. Schooldays. Continue reading →

My story pops back into my memory sometimes in those twilight moments between waking and sleeping. Continue reading →

Mr Gooden was terrifying and a tyrant and he altered the course of my life more than anyone else. Continue reading →

What would life have been like if Ken and Bill had headed down to those desolate islands? Continue reading →

Diamond nights and ruby lights. High in the sky. Continue reading →

I had twenty quid, a St Christopher and a change of clothes. I didn’t look back. Continue reading →

Inside every old person is a young person who doesn’t really understand that he’s old now. Continue reading →

A kiss is still a kiss. Continue reading →

The first thing they say is “Whatever you do, do not Google for information about your tumour.” Continue reading →

Roger Ebert has written a powerful, meandering essay about shame. He inspired me to add my own. Continue reading →

At least she could get some enjoyment out of being alone. Continue reading →

Was it yesterday that we got married? Or the day before? Continue reading →

Folks on the left often say that fear of immigration is just a thinly disguised appeal to racism. I disagree. Continue reading →

The only time I ever drew with charcoal. Continue reading →

A terminal cancer diagnosis sucks. Does it help to know long you have left? Continue reading →

Crossing the line is an important milestone in a young sailor’s life. Continue reading →

Did your teachers leave them kids alone? Mine didn’t. Continue reading →

I feel like I have got the hang of writing philosophy essays. Here are some tips. Continue reading →

One thousand years later, beer is still excellent and the song is still fantastic. Continue reading →

Ragged Clown has been posting for twenty years Continue reading →

The purpose of a flute is to make beautiful music. Who should own them? Continue reading →

Sitting in those pews transports me back through my memories. Continue reading →

We went to see a new oncologist yesterday. Continue reading →

I discovered a world that I only saw dimly before Continue reading →

I opened the book and, on the very first page, was the program that changed my life. Continue reading →

It cost me an E string and the skin off the top of my ring finger but I am done. Making music is hard. Continue reading →

The End-of-Life Handbook recommends using ritual to create meaning. Continue reading →

New Entry training in the Navy was the hardest thing I have ever done. Continue reading →

Nan was less than two years away from her century. She was born before the First World War. Continue reading →

Making choices was never this hard before. Continue reading →

I love buying books for people who will get pleasure from them Continue reading →

Because it’s ALL THE TIME, I’ve come to think of it as the taste of cancer. Continue reading →

“Life, if well lived, is long enough.” Continue reading →

My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why I got out of bed at all. Continue reading →