Even a thread like this gets diverted into macho posturing by Clinton and Shambles popping up again every now and again banging his head away on a wall he's hunted around to find...

Pity about all the foolishness that crops up from time to time - and I've done my share of contributing to that. But the Mudcat is a miraculous affair. Not a day passes but I'm grateful for it, to Max and whose company I've enjoyed. Including the ones I've had serious disagreements with. Unlike some people I like discussions that can be called arguments. It's when they turn into quarrels I don't like it. And I especially hate it when that kind of thing drives away people whose company I've come to enjoy.

Whenever things get too heated I wish we could remind ourselves that we've got in common a shared interest (even a shared passion) for the music and the songs that brought us here in the first place. I wrote a song about the Mudcat when I first came upon it, way back in the 20th Century, and it still sums up what it seems to me it's about. Here it is again. (The words have changed a little bit, the way songs do, so that's an excuse to post it once more) :

The Blue Clicky Thing

I spied it one day, I was trawling the net,
a fish like a cat, that's the strangest one yet.
When I reached out to touch it, things started to spin -
I was off for a ride down that Blue Clicky Thing.
The Blue Clicky Thing, the Blue Clicky Thing,
it can take you away like a magical ring.
It can make you as free as a bird on the wing,
the Mudcat Cafe and the Blue Clicky Thing.

I was off on a ride and admiring the view,
there were places I got to that I never knew,
there were stories to share, there were songs you could sing,
there were all kinds of folk down that Blue Clicky Thing.
The Blue Clicky Thing, the Blue Clicky Thing,
it can take you away like a magical ring,
It can make you as free as a bird on the wing,
the Mudcat Cafe and the Blue Clicky Thing

There were names you could mutter and photos to see,
of neighbours next door, 'cross the wide rolling sea,
and a tavern where you could drop in for a drink,
and gossip with friends, down that Blue Clicky Thing.
The Blue Clicky Thing, the Blue Clicky Thing,
it can take you away like a magical ring,
It can make you as free as a bird on the wing,
The Mudcat Cafe and the Blue Clicky Thing.

Well I try to explain, and you might understand,
it's a fine place to go to when you're feeling grand -
but when your heart's heavy, and you're shackled and pinned,
you can reach out and find help down that Blue Clicky Thing
The Blue Clicky Thing, the Blue Clicky Thing,
it can take you away like a magical ring,
Don't it hold us together like brown paper and string?
The Mudcat Cafe and the Blue Clicky Thing.
...........................

So what is a straightforward way for people like me in England to pay up and be counted? (I mean those of us who don't feel happy using paypal.com)