There I was, chatting with an old and good friend of mine - a friend who is gentlemanly, treats me to lunch (and refuses to take my money), and will always help me out if I need help - when I thought, "Thank you for being such a decent human being, a decent man. Thank you for restoring a little bit of my faith in mankind."

If only he weren't off-limits, even if he is single. Such are the unwritten rules that surround friends' ex-es.

Speaking of ex-es, another friend spoke to me today, lamenting about the dearth of good, decent, single Singaporean men. Given where she works, her colleague suggested a certain someone who was my first boyfriend. I know she didn't mean it, as that certain someone is going out with someone else at this point in time, but she asked me how I would feel if a friend of mine did go out with him.

It's nice that she asked, as we split up quite some time ago, but these unwritten rules do limit the dating circles within Singapore quite considerably. It's a good thing I moved overseas to get around that.

And I'm guessing that the recent rediscovery of the letters he wrote to me while we were dating is the cause of my slight discomfort when she inquired about his availability. Or maybe it's the realisation that of all the guys I went out with, he's most likely the only one who loved me back.