On a day like today, we pass the time away...

Boyfriend Maiyuu reckons I am growing old before my time.

'Shall I buy you a walking stick?' he likes to ask.

We all know that (I've said as much before). However, recently he himself has started to feel old.

Some mornings, I see him dragging his haggard frame around the condo, like an old man in search of his glasses, or maybe his mate.

'Now, where did I leave my boyfriend...I know I saw him here a moment ago!'

I opened a post I wrote back in October, called Thai life: Growing old together.

This is popular with readers, even though it deals with the cheery subject of ageing and decrepitude.

The Adsense bot has read the post, and cuts straight to the chase. It has posted an ad on the top left corner offering me help with bed wetting.

I haven't reached that point yet - reversion to childhood - though it may not be far away. When I move, the body creaks. When Maiyuu moves around, he groans.

'Ehhhhhrrrrr.'

I heard him utter that bottom-of-the-bowel groan this morning. It came from deep in his soul somewhere, as old man noises tend to do. Why? Because we're permanently tired!

It could have been the wind in the trees, back in my home country, where they have trees. But it wasn't. It was my old man boyfriend, having an aged person's moment in the kitchen.

As long as two people have each other, who needs to go out? Few places cater to people our age anyway.

'This condo is so comfortable, I can stay in all day,' I told my neighbour farang C. He looked at me askance.

As a single man, he's rarely at home, and can't understand why I don't get out more. But as a married man leading a settled life, I can't see the need to take in the sights of exciting Bangkok, rub shoulders with Thais or whatever.

Just feed me, keep that wheelchair and my adult Pampers close, and we'll be set.

In keeping with my mood, I have been listening to old songs on YouTube.

How about Jack Payne's My Baby Just Cares for Me?

'My baby doesn't care for shows [true, in Maiyuu's case].

My baby doesn't care for clothes [Not true, unfortunately]

My baby just cares for me...'

Or Dionne Warwick, with Burt Bacharach/Hal David's Walk on By?

'If you see me walking down the street,

And I start to cry,

It's only me...'

I loved Burt Bacharach when I was young. It might be my parents' influence, or maybe I was an old man trapped in a young body even back then.

Or Al Bowlly and the Ray Noble Orchestra, with Love is the Sweetest Thing?

Love is the greatest thing

The oldest yet, the latest thing

I only hope that fate may bring

Love's story to you.

More of Al, with Moonlight on the Highway:

A place where roses remember

And folks forget me not

What else is worth dreaming of?

Moonlight on the highway

Please lead me to love...

Let's end on an upbeat note, though I can't promise I won't return to songs from this era. Maybe I lived back then in another life. Here's Lee Morse's Yes Sir, That's My Baby!

Yes, sir,
That's my Baby,
No, sir, don't mean maybe,
Yes sir that's my baby now!

Bonus track: Lee Morse, and her Love Letters in the Sand (1931). On a day like today, we pass the time away, writing love letters in the sand...