Richard's Eleven

It is often said that childhood maketh the man. Maybe or maybe not, but it's definitely good source material for amusing stories. From characters such as pre-teen lumberjack in science class and aunt who doesn't believe she will age beyond 29, to Richard himself, an accidental insomniac, who was destined for a career as stand-up comic and newspaper humorist, after half a career gathering 'anecdotes' in a nine to five job. As could many of us, given the absurdities of it all, but there's plenty of time to think and compose when you're awake half the night.

A short summer assignment brings him to London where he has to cope with, you guessed it, more freaks and despair, as he tries to escape into his local pub's paperback selection. However, he can't quite get comfortable in his own skin, at all. Was he born that way, or did something set him off? Richard's Eleven calls to mind top selling books dealing with depression, but this is how he'd have doodled one of them, shorter and to the point.

This is a spiritual journey arguably better to watch than to live, but can mass transit be passive aggressive and can depressed people be funnier than normal people? Read on.