Chapter 28

Half a Loaf:

There is an old proverb about a half a loaf being better than no bread. An obvious statement if ever there was. It makes one wonder who came up with such a trite comment in the first place and who on earth thought it was worth repeating. It is mind bogglingly obvious that anybody who is hungry will accept whatever is available to eat even if there isn’t enough.

However the other evening I was reminded of the proverb when I took May out for a meal at the BBQ retaurant near “the big C” shopping mall in Phuket town. After a good meal coupled with perhaps a little more beer than was wise and a long and delicate discussion on the merits/demerits of her attempting to supplement here income by becoming a cosmetics salesperson she, to my surprise, invited me back to see her new apartment.
A surprise indeed since I had never before got past the front door of her previous one. Things were looking up. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that this was to be but a fleeting visit and no I would not be staying the night. That was fine by me. I expected no more.

Her apartment is small but new and is airconditioned. I liked it and stretched out on the bed to relax in front of the television.

I really did not mean to relax that much but I very rapidly fell asleep.

I was woken by May quietly extracting a pillow and a duvet from partly under me and setting up a place for herself to sleep - on the floor.
I protested that I couldn‘t allow that to happen and that either we should share the bed or I should sleep on the floor.

Clearly my protestations were not adequate because when I woke in the morning it was to find that May was still asleep on the floor and I was snugly tucked up in her bed. I felt a bit guilty because if I was a gentleman I would have absolutely insisted on taking my rightful position on the floor whilst the lady occupied her bed. However it was too late for that now so I just apologised for my bad manners, from my position of comfort, and chatted to her while she readied herself for her day‘s work. Incidentally it still amazes me how long it can take a lady to prepare herself for the day when a man can be out of the house from a lying start, as it were, in about ten minutes.

“Well what about the half a loaf proverb“ I hear you ask.

Ah I was just coming to that. The above episode just made me ponder, slightly wistfully that:

“To be given a half a bed is better than to be given a whole one.”