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Leonora

@toomuchsinging.bsky.social
252 followers 213 following 572 posts

Expert procrastinator with a tendency to think about music rather than work. Often found humming random bits of Bach or Purcell while walking down the street.

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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 5h
Also, I'm pleased to report that the queue lasted all of about two minutes. My only criticism was that the experience is quite rushed. But none of the hour-long waits that I was anticipating.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 5h
The word 'awesome' may have become tired from overuse, but the Bayeux Tapestry truly is. I wasn't expecting quite how emotional I'd feel seeing it in person this evening (the photo is obviously not of the tapestry itself!). It's stunning, beautiful, horrific, amusing... Nothing quite compares.
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Frank&Stein @brandtandstein.com · 14/10/2026
This isn’t it, folks. There’s no way to use generative AI without supporting wholesale theft, supporting billionaires and hedge funds over creators, and supporting every piece of misinformation and shoddy regurgitation from the software. This isn’t it.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
THANK YOU! I'm now off to see it tomorrow.
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ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 14/10/2026
TAPESTRY ALERT - The British Museum has just released some spare tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry over the next few days. ticketing.britishmuseum.org/events/the-b...
ticketing.britishmuseum.org
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
If you don't manage to view the live broadcast, you could always watch it on ketchup.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
You'll just have to hope that this idea cuts the mustard with the commissioners. Insider sauces tell me that it might not. Although it could be amusing to see contestants getting into a bit of a pickle...
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
This @historyextra.bsky.social episode is absolutely fascinating (and a great example of why having passionately enthusiastic guest experts on a history podcast is so much better than the Two Posh Blokes Talk About History form of podcasting).
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/news/2026/oc... An absolutely fascinating piece here by @nesrinemalik.bsky.social about the many and varied words for 'Blackness' in other languages.
theguardian.com
‘Green, red, yellow, blue’? Beneath the surface, diaspora language is anything but Black and white
Black communities across the globe have large and complex vocabularies to describe race, shaped by their specific cultures and histories
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Fun fact for the evening: my sister (leftwing, state educated and gay) was for a while the organist at Grantchester Church where Mary Archer (wife of the late Jeffrey) conducted the choir. An interesting combination...
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I now really want @countbinface.bsky.social to stand in my constituency (not that he's likely to), as he honestly seems the best political choice at the moment.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I recently encountered a woman in my street (2 minutes down the road from West Square) who described foxes as 'nasty verminous evil things' when she saw me gazing at one. When I told her I love them (like you, I have a tendency to talk to them!) she gave me a look of complete incomprehension. Sigh.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I have eaten the cards that were on the shop shelves and which you were probably saving for December Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so early
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
He is a magnificent beast all round. Very much not a cuddly lap cat though (his enjoyment of being stroked comes with strict limits, and there's no way he would suffer the indignity of being picked up).
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Personally I keep mine in the closet, along with all my skeletons.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Not a kitten - he's 12 years old - but this is Zia, the absolute lion of a cat that I'm currently cat-sitting (his paws are MASSIVE), together with a young neighbour who keeps popping up in Zia's garden.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
@byekitty.bsky.social Given all your medical ordeals, I thought you might appreciate this (teenage) kitten I encountered recently. I found it at the top of a tree being harassed by two angry magpies, so I coaxed it down - it was very friendly!
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Wasn't 'Five Go On a Jape And Get Released On Bail' a book by Enid Blyton? Ginger beer can get quite explosive if shaken for too long, after all.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
An alto regular occurrence in my house
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Meanwhile, if you go to the BBC Proms you can stand metres away from your favourite artists for a mere £8. But apparently classical music is elitist. (I do realise that's an over-simplification, but still...) www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
How much is being close to your favorite artist worth? Superfans are reshaping the concert industry
Some admit to spending thousands of dollars for barricade spots and other VIP perks at concerts, which is slowly becoming common
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
My daughter loves films, so I think anything that sounds like it could be a film score is just about acceptable for her. She used to claim to hate ALL music, but these days she loves Lloyd Webber musicals - not my taste, but each to their own!
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I'll never forget the first time I heard it, on a record aged about 10 or 11. I'd always loved the classical music I'd grown up with - Mozart and Mendelssohn and the like - but the Rite blew my little mind, and I spent the duration of the album dancing round my living room!
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Just introduced my "I hate all classical music" 17 year-old to the Rite of Spring (following a passing comment at the dinner table), and while she couldn't quite bring herself to admitting that she liked it, she did say it was the best piece of classical music she'd ever heard. Almost a win.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I thought I'd planted hyacinth bulbs in this window box a couple of days ago, but apparently I planted a catflower.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/quin... is good, if you've got plenty of free time on your hands.
bbcgoodfood.com
Quince crumble tart
A delicious combination of sweet, rich quince purée in an almond pastry case
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Anna H @athenepallas.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
An RNLI lifeboatman is taking part in the Great North Run tomorrow, wearing his full kit. Please donate here if you can: fundraise.rnli.org/fundraisers/...
fundraise.rnli.org
James Waters
I'm taking on Great North Run 2026 - please help me reach my fundraising goal of £1000!
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This morning I am hoping that something will come along to blow all the leaf-blowers of this world into a huge pile, from where they'll be unceremoniously hacked to pieces and recycled into wind turbines or something. And yes, there is a leaf-blower operating opposite my house right now.
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HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 10/09/2026
Lennon’s been getting away with it for too long. We’re calling on the Government to refer him to HMRC for a full investigation. Add your name: secure.hopenothate.org.uk/page/199860/...
secure.hopenothate.org.uk
CALL FOR AN HMRC INVESTIGATION INTO STEPHEN LENNON
A year-long Channel 4 Dispatches investigation has raised serious questions about Stephen Lennon’s finances. Add your name and call on the Government to refer them to HMRC for investigation.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I don't know how many were listed on Stubhub (hardly any left now), so maybe the genuine Bach fans were very quick to buy tickets this morning (I joined the queue three minutes after tickets went on sale, thanks to internet issues). Whatever, it's annoying, and I'm not paying over £40 to stand!
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This German comedy sketch (with English subtitles) perfectly captures so much of what is going on right now in the UK, the US, and across Europe. "Playing the 'Nazi Card' in the Third Reich", by Browser Ballett.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Right? I'm not going to even try for Mahler 9 tomorrow, as I expect exactly the same thing will happen. Personally I don't think that reselling tickets for more than the face value should be allowed for anything.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
To whoever snapped up all the Promming tickets to the Bach B Minor Mass tonight within ten minutes and is now selling them at stupidly inflated prices on Stubhub: You deserve to hear nothing but John Cage's 4'33 for the rest of your life. (Not that I'm feeling at all bitter this morning...)
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I’ve reached the point - well actually, I reached it a while ago - where I’m militantly anti-AI. Fine - use it in bioscience labs and radiology where it might help analyse data more effectively. Use it sparingly for systems engineering. Everywhere else, it can fuck off.
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Patrick Allies @patrickallies.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
For north Londoners: the Islington Proms (which I help organise) start on Friday. Loads of great stuff across 3 weekends: Irish trad, chamber music, choral evensong, silent movie with live organ, 2 free family events. All at St James’ Church N1 8PF. Everyone v welcome! www.islingtonproms.com/about-1
islingtonproms.com
PROMS 2026 | Islington Proms
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
If you would like to add your voice to tens of thousands of people thanking RNLI volunteers for their work, 38 Degrees have organised this open letter to express public support (at a time when a hateful fringe have been intimidating & abusing RNLI volunteers) act.38degrees.org.uk/act/rnli-tha...
act.38degrees.org.uk
An open letter in support of the volunteers and staff at the RNLI
This is a disgrace. Brave RNLI volunteers being called scum for risking their lives to save others at sea is just plain wrong. So I've signed an open letter of thanks for the RNLI letting them know th...
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I want the Prime Minister to look into a TV camera and say the RNLI are heroes, that we do not change policy by street violence in this country, and that he expects any criminal action to face the full force of the law. That's it. That's all he has to do.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Another one is กำขี้ดีกว่ากำตด, which figuratively means 'getting something is better than getting nothing', but literally means 'grabbing a shit is better than grabbing a fart'.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
One Thai one I like (although I have no idea how much it's used) is กินน้ำพริกถ้วยเก่า. It literally means 'eating an old bowl of chilli paste', but figuratively means staying with one's original wife rather than running off with a mistress.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I agree. It's important to have the monument (especially given the rise of antisemitism and the far right, as well as our shameful treatment of people fleeing war and conflict today), but that's not the place for it.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Catching up with tonight's Prom on BBC Sounds, and I still can't get my head round the fact that Marta Argerich is the same age as my mum. It's mind-blowingly insane that she's still so brilliant at the age of 85.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It's amazing to think I was at the concert in St Peter's Eaton Square where the @thegesualdosix.bsky.social launched their very first CD, and at their concert in the darkest days of social distancing when literally only about 12 people were allowed to be present, and now the Proms!
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This was brilliant - spine-chillingly beautiful singing from the G6 (I was basically one giant goosebump all through 'Phos Hilaron'), in which the walls of the RAH almost seemed to draw closer as if they too were listening, followed by a phenomenal feat of rhythmic concentration by Colin Curry et al
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Mitsuko Uchida on This Cultural Life is hilarious and utterly delightful. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
This Cultural Life - Mitsuko Uchida - BBC Sounds
Pianist Mitsuko Uchida discusses her cultural influences and her career in music.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
So wish I could have been at the Proms this evening. I've already listened to the Rückert-Lieder twice on BBC Sounds, and it's utter perfection.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Black and white afternoon napping today (one in my back yard, the other in Hyde Park)
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It really infuriates me that while I try to be as environmentally responsible as I can (within my limited budget), politicians pursue a 'drill, baby drill' agenda.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The great thing about not earning much money is that I've not flown for over 20 years and get to feel smug about it. Ultimately though, while individual actions are important and all stack up, what we really need is a complete overhaul of government policy on a global scale.
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I've been to a few, but haven't yet spotted you at the bus stop! Were you at the phenomenal Berlioz Requiem the other night? I don't think I've fully recovered yet from the 20 timpani! TWENTY TIMPANI!
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Leonora @toomuchsinging.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
More ferocity, surely? There's a huge difference between a university academic who's done no more than embellish his life story and a party leader with deeply unpleasant views who lies through his teeth and aims to become the next prime minster.
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