From soldierboy:

"When starting this thread I expected to receive some of the usual negative carping from certain individuals who seem to flit from thread to thread to disrupt civilised concourse with their venom and poison. But non of that! Praise be."

What a great shame you didn't read your own words, before you posted one of the most venomous, poisonous and uncivilised posts I have yet seen on Mudcat.

I agree with everything Al has posted above. To me, there is something 'rotten' within the English folk world, it runs through the very heart of it, leaving a trail of poison and vindictiveness. This is aimed particularly at people who appear to be well liked and respected by others, but who 'outside' the magic circle. It is what keeps the English folk world where it is. It is what causes many in here, who are not from England, to stare open mouthed in horror, at comments such as those above, in 'soldierboys' last post.
Praise be, we have the US and Canadian posters in here who so often make reading about the folk world much more uplifting, with their open-minded attitudes and friendly comments. My apologies to Peace for daring to mention his name on such a narrow-minded thread. I had no idea it had been started by someone with such an outlook.

From 'soldierboy'

"Sorry to sound bitter.."

You sound, and I would say, *are* incredibly bitter. May you find a way to rid yourself of such feelings. An excellent way to start, perhaps, would be by apologising for that highly unpleasant message above, but that is entirely up to you, for I realise that would take guts.

Thanks to Al, Bruce, Don and all the others though, for their interesting and informative comments. It is those comments that the celebration of folk is really about, comments which talk of support, great memories, humour, empathy and friendship.