Is it just me....

[Geoff Parkstone]

Actually I rather like beetroot, particularly in cake. I make a mean chocolate, beetroot and coffee flourless cake

[ramAnag]

The poster you was looking for was Basie.
Yes the very same old man, who used many various nasty insults on many posters, including DCM ones like Jacksdale.
In the end he was undone, after I requested an IP address sweep, and it was uncovered he was using 8 different user names in his little game. They banned him.
Be careful who you ally yourself with.

‘Be careful who you ally yourself with’. Is that really how you see it? Bit childish don’t you think?
On forums there are people we generally agree with and others we’re more likely to disagree with. Some we respect and others we don’t. Nothing to do with being ‘allies’.
In Basie’s case…I know little about the bloke. Don’t recall him being offensive but I do recall concluding that he was getting on a bit and didn’t seem to be in the best of health. He certainly wasn’t an ‘ally’ but I did think your repetitive ‘clock’s ticking’ jibe said a lot about you.

[MadAmster]

I think B4 was OK with some gentle ribbing, who couldn't help but smile over his Connor Sammon song. It was the outright nastiness that wasn't nice, but that usually came from opposition fans.

I will poke fun but only if It's obvious autocorrect has kicked in.

I'm not sure if I'm slightly dyslexic or not, I often have to stop myself at work and read back emails etc as I type as the word sounds and often put the wrong spelling, they're, their there , here, hear etc, I also have issues saying some words, I've never been able to properly say anonymous ha.

I think mine stems back to school, I never learnt to write joined up, even today I write in block capitals.

I do put the blame on the teacher at school mind when the class was learning I did struggle but rather than persist he just told me I was thick and I wasn't allowed to continue learning.

How times have changed, imagine doing that now?

Who'd have thought I'd become a developer lol.

It's weird, is pronunciation. There's sounds in many languages with which non-natives have difficulty. In Dutch, foreigners have difficulty with the g, with the ui combination and with the ij and ei combo's which have the same sound but are not a sound common in many other languages. The Spanish can't pronounce words that start with an s followed by another consonant. They have to prefix them with an e so Smith comes out as Esmith and whisky is an espirit etc. I've also noticed in many, but not all, Afro Americans and West Indians that they never seem to "ask" a question, they "aks" a question.

Languages. All of them. Weird and wonderful things that people never seem to get right and owd fogies like me decry the amount of incorrect sounds people utter. Be that issues with the the TH combination which, ever increasingly, sounds like an f, v or d. Don't schools teach pronunciation anymore? I'm happy to say, all the Dutch kids I taught knew the correct pronunciation and where they had any difficulty, I taught them the mouth shape, position of the tongue and whether or not the sound came from the mouth or the throat. Scots, many of them, Sir Alex among them, have a penchant for pronouncing L as a W. A trait that has crept into Dutch over the past 20 years when the L is at the end of a word, it comes out as a W.

[SithHappens]

I’m surprised, Sith…thought you were probably too young to have experienced such examples.

Tbf…I think few people make more difference than good teachers and I certainly remember a handful - one in particular - who, for me as a te*nager, fitted into the ‘life changing’ category.
On the other hand the memories of the ba*tards, the bullies and those who seek to belittle do definitely stay with us and, imo, have done untold damage to the reputation of the reaching profession.

As for beetroot…you haven’t missed much…food of the devil!

Ha no I'm 54 next year so not a youngster

[MadAmster]

Ha no I'm 54 next year so not a youngster

Compared to a few of us, you most definitely are

[ramAnag]

Compared to a few of us, you most definitely are

Indeed. It’s a terrifying thought that the first eleven year olds I taught on teaching practice will now be 62!

Even more worrying…I still think of myself as being 25…and then I’m reminded…as I waste the morning killing time prior to our Covid/Flu jabs.

[Andy_Faber]

Actually I rather like beetroot, particularly in cake. I make a mean chocolate, beetroot and coffee flourless cake

that sounds like the cake recipe of a fellah that only has chocolate, beetroot and coffee in the house. Please provide the recipe!

[Geoff Parkstone]

7oz butter, plus extra for greasing
9oz cooked and peeled beetroot
7oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
4 tbsp hot espresso
6 oz ground almond
1 heaped tsp baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa powder
5 free-range eggs, separated
6½oz golden caster sugar

[Geoff Parkstone]

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 20cm/8in cake tin with a little butter and line the bottom of the tin with a disc of baking parchment.

Blend the beetroot in a food processor to a rough purée.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot water (do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water), then pour in the hot coffee.

Stir in the butter in small pieces and leave to soften. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, sift the almonds baking powder and cocoa together in a bowl and set aside.

Separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks in a bowl until frothy. Stir the eggs into the chocolate and butter mixture, then fold in the beetroot.

Whisk the egg whites until still peaks form when the whisk is removed. Fold in the sugar.

Fold the sugar and egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour and cocoa mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

[MadAmster]

Indeed. It’s a terrifying thought that the first eleven year olds I taught on teaching practice will now be 62!

Even more worrying…I still think of myself as being 25…and then I’m reminded…as I waste the morning killing time prior to our Covid/Flu jabs.

My first "pupils/students" were adults at businesses where I gave Business English, Communication and IT courses. Then came students at a Sports College for English Language and Computer Science. That was followed by a secondary school, again English Language and Computer Science.

What never ceases to amaze me is the growing number of old people who are my age. I'm definitely not as old as they are, in fact, I know some folk in their 30s and 40 who are way older than me.

That, of course, based on my creed of "you don't stop doing stuff because you're getting old, you get old because you stop doing stuff". Keep both mind and body active and you'll stay young much longer.