Just did one of my favourite train journeys again, beside and through the Malvern Hills from Hereford to Great Malvern. Anne Brontë kept me good company.

Manchester Recorder Orchestra concert tonight (Sat 28 Feb, 7.30pm) at Marple United Reformed Church, Stockport: Bach, Borodin, Prokofiev, Verdi, modern works including Shannon’s ‘Craft Brew’, me on my rosewood tenor, and much more. Come see us if you fancy something completely different. 🎶

Meet the speakers for our #IndexDay workshop on 31 March @publishersassoc.bsky.social : @baindex.org on the value of human indexing, Rachel Gee on how indexes make information accessible, and @tanyaizzard.bsky.social on technology and AI. Book your place at www.indexers.org.uk/posts/nation...

Glad to be part of @indexers.bsky.social National Indexing Day #IndexDay event team again with @tanyaizzard.bsky.social and Rachel Gee. Non-fiction publishing professionals, we’d love you to join us there to talk about how we can make book indexes and indexing processes better together.

Thursday Night Comedy! Danny Sutcliffe welcomes Allyson June Smith, Steph Bradshaw, Annabelle Devey & Delyth Smith 🎟️ Get tickets: stockportcomedy.short.gy/comedy-night... #stockport #comedy #comedynight #comedyclub

This is obviously egregious engagement bait, but it seems to have struck a chord, and some of the replies are truly marvellous.

Switched the indexing office this morning to Covent Garden Cafe in Stockport, aka Pickles Diner from Mackenzie Crook’s magical Small Prophets on BBC2. #SmallProphets

I went to this event a couple of years ago and can strongly recommend it for anyone interested in indexes.

Our annual celebration of indexes and indexing, National Indexing Day, takes place on Tues 31 March 2026. We’ll be celebrating online (follow #IndexDay) and running half-day workshops all about indexing for publishing professionals in London. Find out more and book your place at: buff.ly/y0rLvyT

The rain is back but so are the crosswords! Join us at 12 to help solve cryptics from the MyCrossword community by duncanjwitham and Chlorine @katstevens.bsky.social. Beginners and hecklers welcome, as ever! #CrypticSunday twitch.tv/crypticsunday

Paula Clarke Bain @baindex.org is Chair of Society of Indexers @indexers.bsky.social - this session will explore the commonalities of the fields of book indexing & library & information science + the shared purpose of helping people to find information in books & other media #MetaFutures #Conference

Our garden snowdrops are back for their eighth year. Such a welcome sight every January. I can highly recommend planting a clump or two. 💚

Catherine O’Hara SCTV thread youtu.be/990OaFr8EYw?...

A beautiful day with @indexers.bsky.social North West local group, having a fine lunch in The Old Wellington pub and then a guided wander around Manchester Cathedral @mancathedral.bsky.social.

Indexer on a train, January 2026. 🚂 Lovely day to meet the North West local group of @indexers.bsky.social for a lunch and cathedral tour in Manchester.

I wrote this yesterday about the hero city of Minneapolis www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOW...

A new Mini crossword from me in loose tribute to tonight's Only Connect final 🌾🦁🪢🐍🌊👁️ Featuring: Crck fnl bts frm nthr nly Cnnct pzzl (3) Mghn ntlly pst hr hsbnd, wthhldng Chrstms gft (5) Fmnn ttl mprss ccsnlly sd (3) mycrossword.co.uk/mini/211

Pixie’s new (and fifth) cryptic crossword puzzle is now out. 🧚🏻 With thanks: – to my kind test solvers – to @archelina.bsky.social, @wyrd.systems and #CrypticSunday crowd for the fun live-solve – to Raider for the ace @mycrossword.co.uk. Hope you enjoy. (I did.) www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/3065

It's #CrypticSunday! Join us at 12 noon to help solve crosswords by LeoNessie @joeleisen.bsky.social and Pixie @baindex.org 🎉 twitch.tv/crypticsunday

Sunset-photo mental health break: I don't think I've seen such clearly defined holes in a cloud. Also, love that little flashlight coming through just left of center, beaming a cone of sunset onto the desert. Please try to get some sleep. ❤️💪

The Harry Hill Show new vodscarf with Stewart Lee. A truly daft delight from beginning to end. And I love Stewart Lee’s laugh, which appears a lot. ♥️ youtu.be/GhJxiU1_5o0?...

Almost sold out! Last few tickets for this Thursday’s comedy murder mystery at Thread 👇 stockportcomedy.short.gy/louvre-laugh

Having indexed two of these – Soupy Twists! (on Fry and Laurie) and Fab Fools (on Beatles, Rutles and comedy) – I can vouch for their entertaining excellence. If you like this sort of thing too, give a follow to @jemroberts.bsky.social @fabfools.bsky.social @talesofbritain.bsky.social

The January issue of @indexers.bsky.social SIdelights newsletter is now out. This first issue from new editor Susie Marques has a Cryptic Corner, and reproduces my mini crossword from @mycrossword.co.uk www.mycrossword.co.uk/mini/187. So this is Pixie’s first ever published puzzle elsewhere! 🧚🏻

My origin story: in-house proofreader at publishers/printers ➡️ freelance proofreader and copy-editor ➡️ finding @indexers.bsky.social via @the-ciep.bsky.social, doing the SI Training in Indexing course, and then freelance book indexing becoming my best fit. How about yours? #IndexSky

A very well deserved win for @clairebennie.bsky.social and she predicted it too! #cryptic #crossword

We'll be streaming new crosswords at 12 as usual today - please join us! Starting off with a quick (13x13) cryptic by JeremysIron @davidjsiron.bsky.social then a standard cryptic by Cheeseman #CrypticSunday twitch.tv/crypticsunday

Interested in setting cryptic crosswords, or improving ... or just finding out more? Following on from Raider's excellent advice at @mycrossword.co.uk, I've started a new blog series looking at how and why cryptics work: www.mycrossword.co.uk/blog/setting... Hope it's useful / interesting!

This is Winnie the Harris hawk. She comes to the British Library twice a week to scare away the pigeons.

I’ve only just discovered this Cryptic Crosswords/Clues custom feed. Now duly done the ‘Pin feed’ thing to add it to my home feeds. Cheers @lowdowncryptic.bsky.social!

PSA (Puzzle spreading advice)

There are only 7 tickets left for Thursday’s comedy murder-mystery show at Thread. 😱 Grab yours before they’re all gone. ❤️

Another great summary thread here (thanks to @tanyaizzard.bsky.social) of @indexers.bsky.social latest enjoyable Coffee Morning Zoom session and the sort of thing we book indexers talk about when we get together. This time: the oddball indexes. #IndexSky

A new setter on MyCrossword? Not exactly. Hat tips to my co-conspirators @henriwords.com @postmarkcryptic.bsky.social @cranberryfez.bsky.social & Gennaro, and huge thanks as always to @mycrossword.co.uk #cryptic #crossword www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/3028

New crosswords by Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social and Ouroboros @ouroborosop.bsky.social await! Join us at 12 noon GMT to solve together #CrypticSunday twitch.tv/crypticsunday

Look forward to being part of the @cilipmdg.bsky.social #MetaFutures conference in Bristol this March, talking about connections between the library cataloguers of @cilip.bsky.social and the book indexers of @indexers.bsky.social. #IndexSky

Over the next few weeks we will be posting further details on BlueSky about the programme for the MDG Conference & RDA Day #MetaFutures 11-13 March 2026 - so stay tuned! Book your place: www.cilip.org.uk/members/grou... #metadata #discovery #cataloguing #conference 📚🐈🧵

I’m at the spot where ICE murdered Renee Nicolle Good today, along with my daughter and her bf. Still lots of people here at 11:00 pm. (Avoiding getting anyone in the picture) It’s beautiful, surreal but still mostly enraging. Abolish ICE.

Minneapolis.

If you are looking for information on indexing for your scholarly book, our website has a Professional Directory (www.indexers.org.uk/find-an-inde...) and also information for authors (www.indexers.org.uk/about-indexi...) with links through to blogs by @baindex.org and @tanyaizzard.bsky.social .

Our Talking about the Past Zoom meeting today discussed this highly interesting podcast episode. It was great to hear the enthusiasm for indexes both as a research tool and as a way of marketing a scholarly book. We concur with their views on the limitations of AI for book indexing.

A 2026 reshare of my starter pack of freelance book indexers on Bluesky, including members of @indexers.bsky.social and other indexing societies. It’s opt-in/out by request, so just let me know if you wish to join or leave it. Good to see you all in the #IndexSky. go.bsky.app/GzqinPu

With so many people taking up setting recently, I’ve put together a quick guide to help you get started. www.mycrossword.co.uk/blog/becomin...

Index in the Joy of Cooking

Considering a new career in the new year? Find out more about becoming a book indexer and the skills and attributes required. Then investigate the @indexers.bsky.social training course. It changed my life, for the better. #IndexSky

Available on YouTube here www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBC4... with thanks to @stephenullstrom.bsky.social

Happy new year, duckies, wherever you are. #StetWalk

A Merry Christmas to all from me and whatever this is on our tree. Hope it’s a happy one, or as good as it can be if times are tough. See you beyond. ⭐️

Caught up on Taskmaster Champion of Champions 4 and the prize task index (said to be Little Alex Horne’s book’s betrayal of Greg Davies). Fine work by Andy Zaltzman @zaltzcricket.bsky.social, with much to love for @indexers.bsky.social. 🤓 #IndexSky #Taskmaster @alexhorne.bsky.social @taskmaster.tv

A good book! // @djbduncan.bsky.social @baindex.org