2026 - Neil Turner's Blog

CSSC – the Civil Service Sports Council

August 5, 2026 by Neil Turner

If you work for the Civil Service, armed forces, or a whole range of public sector organisations, then you may be able to join the CSSC, and get access to discounted sports and leisure activities.

I joined the CSSC last month, primarily because one of its perks is free entry to all Cadw properties which would come in useful in Wales. Free entry is also available to properties run by English Heritage, Historic Scotland, National Trust for Scotland and Kew Gardens. And, in many cases, the free entry doesn’t just apply to you, but any kids as well and sometimes even an accompanying adult.

Trips and shows

However, it’s worth digging further into the CSSC’s membership offering, as there are other discounts available. I’m guessing the CSSC books group tickets for various shows and trips to then sell onto its members at a discount. For example, there were tickets for Operation Mincemeat (which we saw in Bradford in April) at the Leeds Grand Theatre for around £30 for members, compared to over £50 at the regular price. As well as saving money, you get to sit on a row with other public sector and civil service workers in your area, so it’s a good way of networking across organisations and industries.

Other trips include a ‘mini-cruise’ to Amsterdam or Rotterdam (like the ‘mini-cruise’ we took to Bruges in 2014) where 80 places were pre-booked for members of CSSC and offered at a big discount. However, it’s worth noting that these all sold out months in advance, and so it’s worth checking regularly to see what comes up. You can sign up for updates on new offers in your region – being as we are in the Pennines, I’ve signed up for both the Yorkshire & North East region, and the North West.

For other leisure activities and days out, CSSC can offer discount codes when booking online – you don’t always need to book to be part of a group.

Sport, Health and Wellbeing

CSSC tends not to use its full name anymore, but sports are a large part of their offering. All members get access to an app called CSSC Life that is supposed to help with your wellbeing – I haven’t tried it as yet as I’m currently using Fitbit and Google Health already. And the whole recovering from two broken arms and seizures thing.

CSSC also offers discounted rates on membership for several gym brands, such as Everlast, Puregym and Better. There are also various sports events that you can sign up for.

Everyday savings

CSSC offers discounted gift cards, for use at a wide range of shops including the major supermarkets. You pay the standard price for the gift card, but then a percentage is held back (typically 3-4%) which you can put towards future gift card purchases, or can withdraw into your bank account. I already get a similar perk through work, so I haven’t tried this myself.

There are also regular competitions and giveaways that you can enter.

Membership of CSSC costs £6 per month (so £72 per year), and they reckon that members can save up to £300 per year. Everything is done through the web site or CSSC’s apps, so there’s no physical membership card – instead, you get a barcode that you can add to Apple or Google Wallet. Indeed, I haven’t had anything through the post – everything has been by email. Based on our recent trip to Wales, I’, pretty sure I’ll get a good return on investment, but we’ll see. If you work in the civil service, public sector (including the NHS) or armed forces, or are retired from an occupation in those sectors, then joining CSSC may well be worth your while.

Our 2026 holiday: Llechwedd Slate Caverns

August 3, 2026 by Neil Turner

A photo of the inside of the Llechwedd Slate Caverns

Although we arrived in Wales on the Saturday, we had a slow day on the Sunday with just a little stroll around Conwy (which I wrote about last year). The first big thing we did was head to Zip World in Llechwedd, home to the Llechwedd Slate Caverns.

A brief history of the Llechwedd Slate Caverns

In the 19th century, a deep mine was dug at the Llechwedd slate quarry, to access slate deep underground. The mine expanded significantly over the years, and eventually reached 25 miles of tunnels with caverns hundreds of metres below the surface. By the 1970s, demand for Welsh slate was falling, and so it was converted into a tourist attraction.

To improve access to the deep mine, now known as the Llechwedd Slate Caverns, a cable-hauled narrow-gauge railway was built, on a 30º incline.

I last visited with my parents in 1999, when we stayed for a week in the area. Back then, the slate caverns were the only attraction at the Llechwedd site, but in recent years it has expanded. There are now two zip lines – one below ground, one above ground – the ‘Bounce Below’ which is an underground trampoline park, and an underground mini-golf course. We just went for the slate cavern tour; Christine had also been before but it was our ten-year-old’s first time.

The entrance to the Llechwedd Slate Caverns

Down the mine

Some tours include a train ride up and down (and this is also how you access the mini-golf course); on our tour, we walked down and got the train back up at the end. Which, considering it’s a 150 metre (500 feet) climb back up, is very welcome. Your tour guide talks you through the history of the site, how slate was mined, and how the pieces of slate were broken up and shaped into roof tiles to be sold on. There are some audio-visual bits, and a demonstration of what it might have looked like when gunpowder was detonated to break the rocks apart.

A highlight is a cavern with an underwater lake, which is illuminated and looks amazing. It’s quite a different tour from what I remember from when I was 15, and is a good balance of history, education and entertainment. Whilst our guide wasn’t a miner himself, his ancestors worked in the mine, and he was able to tell us some of the stories.

The mine is located near Blaenau Ffestiniog, home to the northern terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway. This was partly built to transport the finished slate products to Porthmadog, for onward distribution by boat.

Accessibility

As you would expect from a 19th century mine, accessibility is restricted to people able to walk and handle low ceilings. And even on a warm July day like when we visited, the mine is cold so bring warm clothing. When you book, you’ll be asked to sign a waiver, and it highlights any medical conditions that would preclude you from entering, or that you need to make staff aware of. Some of the walking surfaces can be slippery and there are uneven steps in places.

There are disabled toilets, but no Changing Places toilet. In fact, the nearest Changing Places toilet is in Caernafon which is over 17 miles away. I suppose if you require a Changing Places toilet, then you’re not going to get much out of the activities at Zip World, but I was surprised that there wasn’t anywhere closer.

Car parking is available on site, at a cost of £3 per car – if you book in advance, you can pre-pay, or use the RingGo app on arrival. There aren’t any electric car chargers in the Zip World car parks, but there is an InstaVolt Rapid charger nearby with two CCS2 and one CHAdeMO plugs, just on the way in.

It’s a two mile uphill walk from Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station, which has trains every two hours from Llandudno Junction, or narrow-gauge heritage trains from Porthmadog. You can also get to Blaenau Ffestiniog on the T22 Transcymru bus service, but you’ll have the same two mile uphill walk.

Booking online is cheaper, and as it’s underground, it’s good for a rainy day. I was also able to get an additional 10% discount through one of my employee benefit schemes at work. There is a café which sells the sort of food you would expect from an outdoor activities centre. Above ground, music is played at a moderate volume across the site; I didn’t mind this as it was mostly 1990s and 2000s music which I listen to anyway, but my probably-but-undiagnosed autistic mother found it a bit much. There’s free Wi-Fi available across the site – handy if you need to pay for parking.

Augustly Advancing into August

August 1, 2026August 1, 2026 by Neil Turner

A photo of York Minster, taken in April 2005, to represent Yorkshire Day which is August 1st.

Happy Yorkshire Day! The region where I was born and still live celebrates its identity and history today, and for probably only the second time this decade, I’ll be spending all day in it. Indeed, this weekend is very much the calm before the storm, as for the next two weeks I’ll be working six-day weeks (Monday-Saturday) ahead of Results Day next Thursday and Clearing. It’s our busiest time of year in university admissions.

As such, this weekend is likely to be a quiet one. Besides work, we have no firm plans for the rest of the month, but we may squeeze the odd day out – especially closer to the August Bank Holiday weekend. Which is especially late this year as the 31st August falls on a Monday.

I guess there will be some time spent preparing our ten-year-old for their final year at primary school. They’ve put on a growth spurt recently and so it looks like we’ll need to buy all new school uniform, as their clothes were getting a little small when they finished last month. And then we’ll have to repeat it all over again next year when they move up to secondary school and have a completely different uniform.

Most of this month’s blog posts were written last month, and include several about our holiday in Wales – the first of which will be ready to read on Monday.

Unblogged July

July 31, 2026 by Neil Turner

Time for another round-up of things that I’ve been up to this month that I didn’t blog about. As with June’s update, it’s back to being a little longer than May as I’ve been able to do more things as I gradually recover.

Back from Wales

Our holiday in Wales was once again just a week, and so we got back last Saturday – all of this week’s blog posts were written before we left. Blog posts about what we did whilst we were away will start appearing next week, once I’ve had chance to write them.

We’ve decided collectively (our household plus my parents) that we won’t be making it a third year in Wales, having been there last year as well. So there will probably be a ‘what we didn’t do in Wales’ post, like 2024’s Northumberland post, coming later next month.

Returning to the office

Another update on my recovery is that I’m back to working full-time hours, and back to hybrid working. This means I’ve successfully managed the commute by train to Bradford and back a few times now, and made it through a work day in the office.

I realise that I’ve touched on this in my review of my OneLife ID wristband but it’s been nice to get out of the house and see my colleagues again. Working all the time at home was okay when we were all doing it (because we had to during lockdown), but when only some of us are at home, it can be a bit isolating.

At present, I’m (mostly) just working two days a week in the office, but this will go up to three days a week from September, as part of a wider policy change at work. To be fair, I’ve often gone into the office on extra days before, so it’s not a huge change for me, and I’m glad that we get to retain our hybrid working privileges.

This week also marked the first time I’ve taken my backpack into work. Since the fall, I’d previously not been able to get the straps onto both shoulders, and so I’ve just had a smaller shoulder bag in the meantime. However, my mobility has improved so that I can finally wear my backpack properly, albeit by putting it on in a rather inelegant way. Still, it’s progress.

Octopus Electroverse Plunge Pricing

On the way back from Wales, we got to take advantage of Octopus Electroverse Plunge Pricing for the first time. When electricity supply is exceeding demand, then public car charging providers who partner with Octopus Electroverse offer a discount when you charge your electric car (or plug-in hybrid). For us, this was 30% – we saved £2 on a quick 15 minute top-up – but can be anything from 20% to as high as 50%.

Generally this happens when it’s particularly sunny and/or windy, and so the electricity being generated by solar panels and wind turbines is higher than the demand. Whilst wind turbines are usually commercially owned and can be turned off (despite this being a massive waste of green energy), energy companies will still pay out for exported electricity from domestic solar installations (like ours). So, offering lower prices for electric vehicle charging gives electric car owners an incentive to charge their cars at a time when supply needs taking out of the grid.

It’s still not as cheap as charging at home, but being able to save a little money is always welcome.

New glasses

I’ll blog about them in more detail when they arrive, but earlier this week I had a routine eye test and found my prescription has changed slightly, again, so I’ll be getting new glasses next month. I’ve been wearing glasses for five years now, and these will be my third pair. My current (second) pair will then become my backup glasses, and I’ll be donating my first pair (current backup pair) to charity.

OneLife ID emergency medical wristband

July 29, 2026 by Neil Turner

Seeing as how, at the time of writing, I’ve had two seizures in two months, I’ve decided that I needed an emergency medical wristband, just in case I have another seizure. After reviewing various options, I settled on one from OneLife ID, and you can see a photo of it above.

The most well-known provider of emergency medical identity accessories is MedicAlert. But with that recognition comes a cost – not only do you have to pay for the bracelet or necklace upfront, but they also want at least £3 a month to make your medical information available. OneLife ID, by contrast, doesn’t charge an ongoing membership fee.

I went for their Sports ID wristband, and specifically one that includes a QR code that quickly brings up a page with my name, photo and year of birth on it. It’s engraved metal, with a silicon strap that’s similar to most smartwatches. As well as the QR code, there’s my name, my medical conditions, my wife’s phone number, and the URL that the QR code points to. Obviously, I’ve blanked out the details in the photo above, and the QR code leads somewhere else.

Accessing emergency medical information

On the back of the engraved panel is a 4 digit PIN code, so once someone has scanned the QR code, they then need to enter the PIN to access my medical information. This provides more detail about my medical conditions, as well as what medication I take, my NHS number, details of my local GP surgery and my blood group.

Clearly, if I’m having a seizure, I’m not able to give this information verbally, and so having a wristband on will hopefully help any Good Samaritans and medical professionals access my medical information quickly. As such, I wear the wristband whenever I’m out of the house. Of course, I really hope I don’t get another seizure – not least because it’ll reset the 12 month period that I need to be seizure-free before I get my driving license back. But if I do, then hopefully it’ll give members of the public the confidence to help me.

Meanwhile, at work, I have a printed A4 poster from Epilepsy Action pinned by my desk about what to do if I have another seizure.

Setting up my OneLife ID

The OneLife ID web site is a little dated, but setting up your profile is relatively easy and can be done as soon as your wristband has been produced. You can include as much or as little information as you want – there is, of course, a balance between privacy and making sure that you receive fast and accurate care.

My only concern long-term is that the OneLife ID web site closes down, making the wristband less useful. As I’m not paying a monthly or annual fee, there’s a risk that the company could shut down in the future. Should that happen, then hopefully by then I won’t be at risk of seizures any more.

There are other alternatives, and Epilepsy Action has a list of several companies selling emergency medical ID products. OneLife ID seemed the best fit for me, but it’s worth looking at the others as well.

Should you get solar panels or a wind turbine?

July 27, 2026 by Neil Turner

As I regularly keep wanging on, we have solar panels. Which are great during the daytime – especially at this time of year when it’s nice and sunny and we can usually earn at least a couple of pounds per day by exporting our excess electricity back to the grid.

But they’re not so useful in winter, or when it’s dark. This is something I wondered about last year, about whether we could go off-grid (short answer: no). So would a wind turbine help?

Ovo Energy have a useful guide, to which the short answer is also (probably) no. For a wind turbine to work well, you need to live somewhere that is windy and has few obstructions. It’s no coincidence that you tend to find wind farms on the tops of hills, or out to sea – Britain having the largest offshore wind generating capacity of any country. Where we live in the Pennines, there are plenty of wind turbines at the tops of the valleys, and proposals for more.

Comparing a home wind turbine with home solar

So would a wind turbine work at home? I watched this YouTube video recently (embedded below) where the creator spends $100 on a solar panel, and $100 on a wind turbine:

On paper, the wind turbine should have outperformed the solar panel and generated far more electricity. But – spoiler alert – it didn’t. The major issue is the type of wind – if you have your turbine in a built-up area, or close to tall trees, then you will likely have turbulent wind which isn’t great for wind turbines. Turbines need wind consistently blowing in one direction, which you’re more likely to get out on moorlands than in cities.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t have a wind turbine at home. But if you do want one, you’ll need to mount it somewhere well away from buildings and trees. Which is fine if you live somewhere exposed and have a large garden, but for most people, investing in a wind turbine probably isn’t worth it. You’re better off spending the money on solar panels – especially as plug-in solar devices should be coming to the UK soon.

Which book forms your origin story?

July 25, 2026 by Neil Turner

I was reminded of this Bluesky post by @garius about the Cambridge Encyclopedia being his ‘origin story’. Which led to others sharing the books that formed their origin stories.

For some, it was Men At Arms (sponsored link), book 15 in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series which introduces the Sam Vimes theory of socioeconomic unfairness. For me, it was The Young Green Consumer Guide (sponsored link), a book for kids with practical advice for being kinder to the environment.

It was published in 1990, and so undoubtedly some of its advice no longer applies. For example, the hole in the o-zone layer isn’t the issue it was, and we don’t drive cars that run on leaded petrol. Indeed it was about the time that I first read this book that my parents had their Ford Escort modified to run on unleaded petrol.

Ever since reading it, I’ve tried to do my bit for protecting the environment – initially with the support of my parents. We used to bundle up our recycling (just paper, glass and metals back then) to take to the local supermarket, before doorstep collections became a thing. We were also relatively early adopters of energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs, and we had our windows replaced with double glazing. Of course, many of the things that we did that helped the environment, also saved us money in the long run.

Into adulthood, I retain my commitment to recycling where possible. At home, we have solar panels and we (well, currently just my wife) drive an electric car. When we bought our house, we replaced all the light bulbs with LED bulbs, which are even more efficient than compact fluorescent ones. Environmental issues have always been a big thing for me, and this book was where it all started.

What else I watched whilst recovering

July 23, 2026 by Neil Turner

I’ve already written about using my sick leave to catch up with Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I watched other things too. Here are some of them.

The Princess Bride

It may be, ahem, ‘inconceivable’ that I’d never watched this before, but I did indeed watch The Princess Bride in full for the first time recently. I think I’d ended up with a voucher for a free film purchase on Amazon Prime Video after buying something else, and this was one of the included films.

I can see why it’s a cult classic, and almost 30 years on, it holds up well. The characters are charming, and by structuring it as a story being told by a grandfather to his grandson, it makes it less like a traditional fairytale story.

Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox

This was another freebie – if you’re an Octopus Energy customer and you’re signed up for Octoplus, you can claim a free film rental from Rakuten each month. Whilst it is a restricted list, it’s still relatively extensive and this was one of the films on it.

If you’re not an Octopus Energy customer, here’s my referral link.

I became aware of Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox because Felicia Day plays one of the characters, and is an executive producer. She’s been in lots of things – I know her from The Guild – but not many feature films, and so I gave this a try.

I’ll be honest – it’s not great. None of the characters are particularly likeable – especially the titular Tim Travers. You can also tell it’s a low budget film with some rather basic special effects – I appreciate that it’s hard to make a good, independent science fiction film, but I didn’t especially enjoy this.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One has recently become available on Netflix UK, and as I missed it in the cinema, I took advantage of its availability. It’s good – I mean, it’s a Steven Spielberg film, so you can expect at least reasonable quality. I clocked very quickly that it had been mostly filmed in the UK – largely in Birmingham, as it happens. As you would expect from a film that largely takes place in a computer game, there’s a lot of CGI, but it feels like the CGI you would get in a computer game.

Without wanting to give away a big spoiler, it ends up passing the Bechdel Test in a rather unexpected way, which is nice.

Naturally, if you play computer or console games, this is probably going to appeal to you more, but I think it’s worth your time. The film is based on a book, and while there is a second book, it was poorly received and so a sequel to the film seems to be stuck in development hell.

Warcraft: The Beginning

The Warcraft film came out in 2016, which coincidentally was the year I stopped playing World of Warcraft and when Warcraft’s popularity started to pass its peak. And I suspect this is part of the reason why this film didn’t do so well, and why there haven’t been any sequels.

The film is largely based on the first Warcraft game, Orcs and Humans, released in 1994, although many of the characters also appeared in a (then) recent World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor. So it was nice to see characters that I recognised on the big screen – or, at least, on Netflix. However, I suspect that if I hadn’t known who the characters were, I would have found the film harder to follow – again, this may go some way to explain its poor reviews. It’s also clear that some plot lines were left unresolved, to be covered in expected sequels, which will now almost certainly never happen.

The film should have come out years earlier, but got stuck in development with a change of director. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad film, but perhaps it was too ambitious and should have focussed on being a self-contained story, rather than setting up a series that then didn’t happen.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Here’s what I wrote in my Letterboxd review:

Ooooookay. 2004 me would have really enjoyed this, but 22 years on it hasn’t aged well. Casual homophobia and fatphobia, unnamed female characters who are just there as set dressing, and a couple of cameos by people who later turned out to be very problematic. The story is good, but a film like this wouldn’t be made nowadays and the world is better for it.

I gave it three stars, but by 2026 standards it’s a rather problematic film. If there was to be a remake, I imagine it would be rather different to this. I think I actually have the DVD somewhere, presumably bought years ago, but what prompted me to watch it was that it was about to be removed from Netflix UK. In any case, it’s a 20th Century Fox film and so it’s still there on Disney+ if you want to watch it yourself.

And that’s it. Although I’m on holiday at the moment, when I’m back, I’ll be back to work full-time, and so there won’t be as many opportunities to squeeze a film in. If I can, I’d like to watch some of the better DC cinematic universe films that I’ve missed, like Wonder Woman, but we’ll see.

We’re in Wales

July 21, 2026 by Neil Turner

A photo of Mostyn Street in Llandudno in Wales, looking towards the Great Orme

As mentioned at the start of the month, we’re off to Wales again for our summer holiday, and by the time you read this, we should have been there a couple of days. We’re staying near Conwy again, in a rented holiday cottage, as a group of five – me, Christine, our ten-year-old and my parents.

We were unsure whether this holiday would happen; I’ve had my injuries to recover from, and my Dad was unwell earlier in the year too. And there was a major wildfire not far from where we’re staying. But my Dad and I have recovered sufficiently, and the fire seems to be under control and has not spread to the cottage we’re renting for the week.

Weather-wise, it looks like quite a nice week, but cooler than it has been recently. Which I’m appreciating.

There will still be regular blog posts going live whilst I’m away, as I’ve written plenty in advance. Having spent most of the month working part-time, as part of a phased return to work, has meant I’ve had more time for writing new blog posts. So, I’ve made the most of it and ensured that there’s content for the rest of this week and next.

Once I’m back, I’ll start writing about the places we visited and what we got up to. See you then.

Changing Places Toilet Awareness Day

July 19, 2026 by Neil Turner

Today is Changing Places Toilet Awareness Day – an annual event to raise awareness of Changing Places Toilets which offer enhanced facilities for people with profound disabilities.

Those of you who read my days out posts will note that I usually include the availability of a Changing Places toilet in the accessibility section. Whilst I have had issues with my arms in recent months, I’ve been fortunate that I don’t need the extra support that a Changing Places toilet offers. However, I have friends and colleagues for whom such toilets are vitally important.

What makes a Changing Places toilet?

Changing Places toilets are a step up from what I suppose you could call a ‘standard’ disabled toilet. They’re usually larger, to accommodate a wheelchair and two carers, and include an adult-sized changing table and a hoist. They allow adults who are unable to get themselves out of a wheelchair themselves to use a toilet, and allow carers to change incontinence pads on a clean, flat surface.

It’s estimated that 250,000 people in the UK would benefit from the enhanced facilities that a Changing Places toilet offers. Without them, it’s very difficult for these people to attend school, college or university, work, or just have a nice day out.

How many Changing Places toilets are there?

The number of Changing Places toilets has grown quite quickly in recent years, and there are now over 2500 registered on this map. Where I live in Sowerby Bridge, there are two, with a further two in Halifax. There are four in Bradford city centre, and my workplace has one. Most big shopping centres now have them, as do many larger museums.

Registration is voluntary, and so there may be places that have such facilities that are not on the national map. It’s also worth noting that the map includes some toilets which don’t meet current standards – they may not offer the full range of enhanced facilities, but still offer more than a standard disabled toilet. You can follow the links to each venue’s page to find out exactly what’s available at each toilet, and there are usually photos as well.

Changing Places toilets are an important part of enabling disabled people to live their lives outside their homes, and be able to go to the toilet with the same dignity as able-bodied people. They allow disabled people to be more included and achieve equal access to opportunities. I think they’re really important, and whilst not every single public space needs to have one, having them available will make life so much easier for disabled people. I’m therefore happy to champion those places that provide them.