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[Spiderman Too]

Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons were the worst times for Brian - nothing to do and nowhere to go. Monday to Friday he had his job to go to, as boring as that was.

Most Friday nights there was something happening. The perennial boy's night out - a night at the pub, a card game, going to see a football match, whatever. And Sunday mornings were for playing golf - rain, hail or shine. His mates hadn't totally abandoned him.

But Saturday nights, well Saturday nights were for couples, dinner parties and whatnot, and Brian was no longer part of a couple, so he was never invited. Sunday afternoons were for family outings, he understood that.

Four years ago, at age 43, Brian became single again. The divorce with Karen was amicable enough. Their cash and assets were divided up equally. Their son and daughter, both married and both living interstate, seemed to take it in their strides. The divorce didn't cause any divisions, or ill-feelings among their friends.

For about 6 months after his divorce Brian went out on Saturday nights to organised "singles" functions - parents without partners, over 35 singles, the singles dining out club, etc. He concluded that there must be something wrong with his own personality, with his own outlook on life, because no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't relate to the people at these gatherings - both the men and the women.

To Brian, they all seemed so dull, so parochial. Most of the women were overweight and, quite frankly, physically unattractive yet the way they spoke of what they expected from intending suitors left Brian wondering whether they all thought they were supermodels.

Nine months after his divorce Brian discovered Pattaya. He and Karen had been to Thailand twice, one trip was a combination Bangkok - Chiang Mai holiday and the other trip had combined Phuket and Penang, Malaysia. But his first trip to Pattaya was an altogether new experience.

The first trip was in the company of his workmate, Eric - 10 years his senior but great company nonetheless. Eric lost his wife to cancer around the same time as Brian's divorce so the holiday was somewhat of a pick-me-up for both of them. Eric later took early retirement and moved interstate so consequently each of Brian's subsequent trips were on his own.

Brian visited Pattaya once in the first year following his divorce, twice in the second year, and he had now settled in to a pattern of 3 trips a year. Brian was a Public Servant with 23 years of service under his belt. When he joined the public service 6 weeks annual leave was the norm and although this had since been changed to 4 weeks annual leave in line with the private sector, the "old-timers" still kept their 6 weeks. So that meant 3, two week vacations per year for Brian.

There was no getting around the fact that Pattaya has an international reputation as a city of sin and his work colleagues often ribbed him about being a sex tourist. For sure, Brian indulged himself in the nightlife. Hey, around US$25.00 to spend the night with a firm-bodied, silk-skinned 20 to 24 year old nymphet was laughable really.

But for Brian, the attraction of Pattaya was far more than the abundantly available cheap sex. The golf was great too, equal in pleasure to the sex. Brian got to play on courses of such high standard, the equivalent of which in his country were well beyond his budget.

Still, it wasn't just the sex and golf that kept Brian coming back again and again. It was the Thai people themselves. They were almost always smiling, and ever-ready to provide a service, or assistance, of one kind or another.

Now Brian was no fool. He realised that in a holiday city such as Pattaya most locals were motivated by money, not by any sense of pride in their work. And sometimes the service provided didn't quite match the standards of his home country, but he didn't care.

For example, one morning he ordered the breakfast set in the restaurant of his hotel, and he specified scrambled eggs. The meal served to him contained fried eggs. When he pointed the error out to the waitress, she gave him a smile that would melt the heart of the most hardened man and said "Mai pen rai na!" - which literally translated means "never mind".

However, Brian always interpreted this frequently spoken Thai idiom as "If that's the worst thing you have to worry about today, then count your blessings".

After his third or fourth visit Brian began to understand, and appreciate, a little of the Thai persona. He learned that Thais are basically shy and reserved people (excluding the ladies of the night, of course) but by making the first approach, a simple "hello" was usually all that was needed, their natural friendliness, and politeness, became evident.

And Brain was amazed by the Thai people's ability to laugh in the face of adversity. One day while pottering along on a hired scooter, Brian almost collided with two young women riding their motorcycle down the wrong side of the road. When it first appeared that they would collide, both girls screamed. But when both bikes came to a safe stop, the girls burst out laughing.

So infectious was their laugh that Brian couldn't help but join in. After he went on his way, Brian felt elated. His spirits had been lifted. He had nearly had a motor accident with an errant driver but once again Thai people had made him feel good!

Brian felt so alive each time he visited Pattaya. Pattaya was one place where he didn't feel so old, he didn't feel so alone. He felt welcomed. He felt like he fitted in. He wasn't blind to the city's faults - the traffic, the litter, the stench of open street drains but if the city was prepared to accept him, a 47 year old divorced nobody from a white-skinned country, then the least he could do was to reciprocate and accept the city, warts and all.

[Sheep-Goats]