My contributions might suggest that I'm no longer terribly active on WP, but I do look in every day to keep an eye on vandalism, and to respond to questions about my contributions. I occasionally create short new BLP articles and, more often, shove what is intended to be a helpful oar into talk page discussions


  • almost-instinct joined Wikipedia because a-i thought the Philip Larkin page ought not look like this
  • almost-instinct is proud to have help the Philip Larkin look more like this
  • almost-instinct felt a sense of pride once a-i had finished typing in this
  • almost-instinct dreams of a whole series of Larkin pages, but has the sense to realise that a-i isn't the editor for the job
  • almost-instinct very rarely edits in the field in which a-i is truly knowledgeable; is there an obverse to ignorance is bliss?
  • almost-instinct thinks that be bold need not mean be ignorant and hasty [this is a cute example]


Lord, I am not high-minded : I have no proud looks.
I do not exercise myself in great matters : which are too high for me
But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child that is weaned from his mother : yea, my soul is even as a weaned child.
O Israel, trust in the Lord : from this time forth for evermore.


  • almost-instinct has a sense of irony; do you?



The Original Barnstar
For four fucking years of dedication and vigilance at Philip Larkin, from a humble new small-time editor. Leonxlin (talk) 02:56, 10 April 2012 (UTC)


The Working Man's Barnstar
For services at the coalface, for not turning the old tenantry away, and for avoiding soundless damage



almost-instinct's sandbox.

I created the following handful of pages:

  1. Stanford Olsen - American Rossini tenor
  2. Grant Doyle (baritone) - young Australian baritone
  3. Gary Lehman - American Heldentenor
  4. Artur Ruciński - young Polish baritone
  5. Nicholas Sharratt - young British tenor
  6. Anna Karenina (Hamilton) - forgotten modern opera
  7. La romanziera e l'uomo nero - forgotten Donizetti opera
  8. Neil Howlett - British Verdi baritone
  9. Greek (play) - the source for Mark Anthony Turnage's opera
  10. Anna Christy - American soprano
  11. Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award
  12. The North Ship - early volume of Larkin's poetry
  13. Collected Poems – 2003 edition (Philip Larkin)
  14. Collected Poems – 1988 edition (Philip Larkin)
  15. List of poems by Philip Larkin